A great man represents a great ganglion in the nerves of society, or to vary the figure, a strategic point in the campaign of history, and part of his greatness consists in his being there.

Pretty much all law consists in forbidding men to do something that they want to do.

The man of action has the present, but the thinker controls the future.

I despise making the most of one's time. Half of the pleasures of life consist of the opportunities one has neglected.

The very minute a thought is threatened with publicity it seems to shrink towards mediocrity.

I dare say that I have worked off my fundamental formula on you that the chief end of man is to frame general propositions and that no general proposition is worth a damn.

Men are idolaters, and want something to look at and kiss and hug, or throw themselves down before; they always did, they always will; and if you don't make it of wood, you must make it of words.