Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds; and I very rarely change it.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.

Teach your child to hold his tongue; he'll learn fast enough to speak.

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.

Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in few words

Meaningful silence is better than meaningless words.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.

Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg crackles as if she had laid an asteroid.

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

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men—the other 999 follow women.

Know yourself. Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.

But all my life through, the very insistence on truth has taught me to appreciate the beauty of compromise.

Wherever there is injustice, war, discrimination against women, gays and the disadvantaged, I did my best to show up and exert moral persuasion.

It's frightful that people who are so ignorant should have so much influence.

Religion is a great force—the only real motive force in the world; but what you fellows don't understand is that you must get a man through his own religion and not through yours.

Without properly kept accounts it is impossible to maintain truth in its pristine purity.

Peace by persuasion has a pleasant sound, but I think we should not be able to work it. We should have to tame the human race first, and history seems to show that that cannot be done.

Diversity of opinion within the framework of loyalty to our free society is not only basic to a university but to the entire nation.

It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.

Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.

It is not reason which is the guide of life, but custom.

No matter how outrageous a lie may be, it will be accepted if stated loudly enough and often enough.

Can anything be more ridiculous than that a man should have the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of the water, and because his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have none with him?

Every heart that has beat strong and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world, and bettered the tradition of mankind.

Anarchy, anarchy! Show me a greater evil! This is why cities tumble and the houses rain down, this is what scatters armies!

God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: "This is my country."