I'm Irish. I think about death all the time.
The greatest good is the knowledge of the union which the mind has with the whole nature.
Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak. But experience more than sufficiently teaches that men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more easily than their words.
Academies that are founded at public expense are instituted not so much to cultivate men's natural abilities as to restrain them.
Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
The supreme mystery of despotism, its prop and stay, is to keep men in a state of deception, and with the specious title of religion to cloak the fear by which they must be held in check, so that they will fight for their servitude as if for salvation.
I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.
Never. Never ask for what ought to be offered.
Mental illness can happen to anybody. You can be a dustman, a politician, a Tesco worker. . . anyone. It could be your dad, your brother or your aunt.
Where thou art, that is home.
I've never been one to chase awards or anything like that, to be honest.