Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. Things are only impossible until they're not. Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis. That you…

What if this weren't a hypothetical question? Preserving health by too severe a rule is a worrisome malady. The next time a car appeared down Market Street, I stepped right out into the road, waving my arms over my head, shouting. The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance;…

There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness. Never despair; but if you do, work on in despair. Feet, why do I need them if I have wings to fly? I'd never looked down the barrel of a gun before, but everything you've heard about the experience is true. For visions come not to polluted…

God creates men, but they choose each other. In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. I despise the pleasure of pleasing people that I despise. Think of life as a terminal illness, because, if you do, you will live it with joy and passion,…

Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers. A hypocrite is a person who--but who isn't? They can conquer who believe they can. Temptation rarely comes in working hours. It is in their leisure time that men are made or marred. I never know how much of what I say is true. There…

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed. If your parents never had children, chances are you won't, either. But be, as you have been, my happiness... It's takin' whatever comes your way, the good AND the bad, that give life flavor.…

We've got to get my friend to a hospital --" Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing…

While we have the gift of life, it seems to me that only tragedy is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our creativity, or our glorious uniqueness. Terrorists killed a lot fewer people than bathroom falls and accidental electrocutions. Exercise ferments the humors, casts them into their proper…

I hope that when I die, people say about me, 'Boy, that guy sure owed me a lot of money.' Men are equal; it is not birth but virtue that makes the difference. If you refuse to be made straight when you are green, you will not be made straight when you are dry. I…

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible. It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one. There is nothing…