They who lack talent expect things to happen without effort. They ascribe failure to a lack of inspiration or ability, or to misfortune, rather than to insufficient application. At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that by persistence and patience something worthwhile will be realized. Thus talent is a species of vigor.

Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden.

There is a radicalism in all getting, and a conservatism in all keeping. Lovemaking is radical, while marriage is conservative.

The world leans on us. When we sag, the whole world seems to droop.

Humility is not renunciation of pride but the substitution of one pride for another.

We used to think that revolutions are the cause of change. Actually it is the other way around: change prepares the ground for revolution.

Our sense of power is more vivid when we break a man's spirit than when we win his heart. For we can win a man's heart one day and lose it the next. But when we break a proud spirit we achieve something that is final and absolute.