I will fight against the division politics of revenge and retribution. If you put me to work for you, I will work to lift people up, not put them down.
The searching-out and thorough investigation of truth ought to be the primary study of man.
It is not enough to acquire wisdom, it is necessary to employ it.
For out of such an ungoverned populace one is usually chosen as a leader, someone bold and unscrupulous who curries favor with the people by giving them other men's property. To such a man the protection of public office is given, and continually renewed. He emerges as a tyrant over the very people who raised him to power.
Whatever is graceful is virtuous, and whatever is virtuous is graceful.
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.
More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind.
Ask Hillary Clinton why she takes tens of millions of dollars from countries that hate women and disrespect women, that throw gays off of buildings.
And that's what I've learned too: writing is key.
If you're always battling against getting older, you're always going to be unhappy, because it's going to happen anyhow.
It's hard to resist the magical thinking that the work habits of great writers are the key to their greatness.