In my opinion it is less shameful for a king to be overcome by force of arms than by bribery.
Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory.
'Tis said of love that it sometimes goes, sometimes flies; runs with one, walks gravely with another; turns a third into ice, and sets a fourth in a flame: it wounds one, another it kills: like lightning it begins and ends in the same moment: it makes that fort yield at night which it besieged but in the morning; for there is no force able to resist it.
The pen is the tongue of the mind.
History is the depository of great actions, the witness of what is past, the example and instructor of the present, and monitor to the future.
Woman's advice has little value, but he who won't take it is a fool.
The wicked are always ungrateful.
My mother helped me to get past that. She was always there for me, until she dies. I remember she told me once, about big hearts and small hearts, and that not everyone could be blessed with a big one that had room to care for a lot of people. She promised me that mine was big, and that I was the lucky one for it.
I know people who have donated big to presidents. I know people who have raised money big for presidents. And they are treated like kings by the politician and his organization. They are constantly invited to parties, seminars, private gatherings where the candidate or the president will explain policy, but only to them. And they brag about it. Which is fine. That doesn't bother me.
We want to see the Iranians engage, and as you know, we have attempted to bring about that engagement over the course of the last three-plus years. It has not proven effective.
The great thing about novels is that you can be as unshy as you want to be. I'm very polite in person. I don't want to talk about startling or upsetting things with people.