I can think of no other edifice constructed by man as altruistic as a lighthouse. They were built only to serve.

People get nothing out of books but what they bring to them.

NAPOLEON: What shall we do with this soldier, Giuseppe? Everything he says is wrong. GIUSEPPE: Make him a general, Excellency, and then everything he says will be right.

All progress means war with society.

I myself have been particularly careful never to say a civil word to the United States. I have scoffed at their inhabitants as a nation of villagers. I have defined the 100 % American as 99 % an idiot. And they adore me.

Life is too short for men to take it seriously.

Every man deserves to be judged in the context of his times.