I want to be optimistic because I don't think man is intrinsically violent.
Every dictator is an enemy of freedom, an opponent of law.
Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
Since we are not yet fully comfortable with the idea that people from the next village are as human as ourselves, it is presumptuous in the extreme to suppose we could ever look at sociable, tool-making creatures who are from other evolutionary paths and see not beasts, but brothers, not rivals, but fellow pilgrims journeying to the shrine of intelligence. . . The difference. . . is not in the creature judged, but in the creature judging.
There are all kinds of devices invented for the protection and preservation of countries: defensive barriers, forts, trenches, and the like. . . But prudent minds have as a natural gift one safeguard which is the common possession of all, and this applies especially to the dealings of democracies. What is this safeguard? Skepticism. This you must preserve. This you must retain. If you can keep this, you need fear no harm.
All speech is vain and empty unless it be accompanied by action.
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.
If you travel the earth, you will find it is largely divided into two classes of people-people who say 'I wonder why such and such is not done" and people who say "Now who is going to prevent me from doing that thing?"
If you think you are free, there is no escape possible.
The real trick is to stay alive as long as you live.
We have to be alert to the way brands behave and misbehave. We have to reward the good ones with our loyalty and punish the bad ones by avoiding them.