The flowers of life are but illusions. How many fade away and leave no trace; how few yield any fruit and the fruit itself how rarely does it ripen!

Democracy will break under the strain of apronstrings. It can exist only on trust.

The greatest intelligence is precisely the one that suffers most from its own limitations.

Pain is the outcome of sin.

We owealmost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who havediffered.

Power doesn't corrupt people, people corrupt power.

It doesnot do to leave a Dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.

Self-trust is the first secret of success.

Thegreatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.

Knowingthat everything's futile but still fighting, still raging against the dying ofthe light that's what motivates me all the time ... If you hold that sense offutility in your head for too long, it can begin to eat into you. You canstill be aware of it

Sincerity is impossible, unless it pervades the whole being, and the pretence of it saps the very foundation of character

Conflict is neither good nor bad. Properly managed, it is absolutely vital.