Government remains the paramount area of folly because it is there that men seek power over others - only to lose it over themselves.

The poets have familiarized more people with history than have the historians.

The writer's object is - or should be - to hold the reader's attention.

Wisdom - meaning judgment acting on experience, common sense, available knowledge, and a decent appreciation of probability.

Human behavior is timeless.

The appetite for power is old and irrepressible in humankind, and in its action almost always destructive.

When people don't have an objective, there's much less dynamic effort, and that makes life a lot less interesting.