The happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except that they are so.

A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he can't sit on it.

I have never understood why it should be considered derogatory to the Creator to suppose that he has a sense of humour.

The happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except that they are so.

Prayer gives a man the opportunity of getting to know a gentleman he hardly ever meets. I do not mean his maker, but himself.

True faith is belief in the reality of absolute values.

Originality is undetected plagiarism.

The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values.

Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful or to discover something that is true.

It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion.

A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbours.

In dealing with Englishmen you can be sure of one thing only, that the logical solution will not be adopted.

We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form.

Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter.

Consciousness is a phase of mental life which arises in connection with the formation of new habits. When habit is formed, consciousness only interferes to spoil our performance.

I think middle-age is the best time, if we can escape the fatty degeneration of the conscience which often sets in at about fifty.

Many people believe that they are attracted by God, or by Nature, when they are only repelled by man.

Theater is, of course, a reflection of life. Maybe we have to improve life before we can hope to improve theater.

Public opinion, a vulgar, impertinent, anonymous tyrant who deliberately makes life unpleasant for anyone who is not content to the average person.

Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due.

Literature flourishes best when it is half a trade and half an art.

It is astonishing with how little wisdom mankind can be governed, when that little wisdom is its own.

To become a popular religion, it is only necessary for a superstition to enslave a philosophy.

There are no rewards or punishments - only consequences.

Whoever marries the spirit of this age will find himself a widower in the next.

Every institution not only carries within it the seeds of its own dissolution, but prepares the way for its most hated rival.

The enemies of freedom do not argue; they shout and they shoot.

No Christian can be a pessimist, for Christianity is a system of radical optimism.

Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.

We must cut our coat according to our cloth, and adapt ourselves to changing circumstances.

There are two kinds of fools One says This is old therefore it is good. The other one says This is new therefore it is better.

The happy people are those who are producing something the bored people are those who are consuming much and producing nothing.

The world belongs to those who think and act with it who keep a finger on its pulse.

A cat can be trusted to purr when she is pleased which is more than can be said for human beings.

In imperialism nothing fails like success. If the conqueror oppresses his subjects, they will become fanatical patriots, and sooner or later have their revenge; if he treats them well, and governs them for their good, they will multiply faster than their rulers, till they claim their independence.

The church is only a secular institution in which the half-educated speak to the half-converted.

The vulgar mind always mistakes the exceptional for the important.

I can remember the frustration of not being able to talk. I knew what I wanted to say, but I could not get the words out, so I would just scream.

What I try to do for my readers is to pass on some of the things that I found out about being thirteen after doing it for forty years.

In this watering-place I acted an heroic character, badly studied; and being a novice on such a stage, I forgot my part before a pair of lovely blue eyes.

Young people discovering their sexuality must know they walk with a strong tradition and that they are not alone. They have a right to information without being pressured.

Being a publicist is like management in a lot of ways - you're their friend, you're their mother, you're their confidante.

I mean, all alternative comedy is are comedians that have being doing it for so long, for so long, that they were relaxed enough to start becoming personal on stage.

I became hooked on the idea of being able to shoot an image and process it myself, and end up with a product.

Being a cover artist is not like being a real artist. That's just copying what someone else did.

It is too maddening. I've got to fly off, right now, to some devilish navy yard, three hours in a seasick steamer, and after being heartily sick, I'll have to speak three times, and then I'll be sick coming home. Still, who would not be sick for England?

I don't like being recognised, I have no interest in being famous at all, I just do what I do. If I could be like Captain Kirk and beam myself up and then beam myself down, I would!

I'm glad I'm not Brezhnev. Being the Russian leader in the Kremlin. You never know if someone's tape recording what you say.

Being a musician is what I do, but it's not what I am.