Let no one be willing to speak ill of the absent.

With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarters, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.

He’s a wonderful talker, who has the art of telling you nothing in a great harangue.

The world is a mountain, in which your words are echoed back to you.

Anybody can become angry—that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way—that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.

To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.

To live is in itself a value judgment. To breathe is to judge.

The day you stop caring what other people think of you, is the day your life begins.

You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.

I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice; and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it.

A good joke is the one ultimate and sacred thing which cannot be criticized.

If we judge ourselves only by our aspirations and everyone else only their conduct we shall soon reach a very false conclusion.

I have yet to find a man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism.

Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burned women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.

Think lovingly, speak lovingly, act lovingly, and every need shall be supplied.