Ambition is pitiless. Any merit that it cannot use it finds despicable.

If anyone were to ask me what I want out of life I would say- the opportunity for doing something useful, for in no other way, I am convinced, can true happiness be attained.

I wonder if one of the penalties of growing older is that you become more and more conscious that nothing is very permanent.

I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do.

We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind. This declaration may well become the international Magna Carta for all men everywhere. We hope its proclamation by the General Assembly will be an event comparable to the proclamation in 1789 [of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man], the adoption of the Bill of Rights by the people of the U.S., and the adoption of comparable declarations at different times in other countries.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

it is always easier to do nothing than to try a new line of action.