A stair not worn hollow by footsteps is, regarded from its own point of view, only a boring something made of wood.
Silence and reserve suggest latent power. What some men think has more effect than what others say.
Knowledge of the world in only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet.
Few people do business well who do nothing else
At any age we must cherish illusions, consolatory or merely pleasant; in youth, they are omnipresent; in old age we must search for them, or even invent them. But with all that, boredom is their natural and inevitable accompaniment.
Physical ills are the taxes laid upon this wretched life; some are taxed higher, and some lower, but all pay something.
As kings are begotten and born like other men, it is to be presumed that they are of the human species; and perhaps, had they thesame education, they might prove like other men. But, flattered from their cradles, their hearts are corrupted, and their heads are turned, so that they seem to be a species by themselves. . . . Flattery cannot be too strong for them; drunk with it from their infancy, like old drinkers, they require dreams.
Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place.
Buying a used rental car is kind of like going to a house of ill repute looking for a wife. Anything that's been driven that hard by that many people, you really don't want to put your key in it.
The real story of Detroit [. . . ] can be summed up in seven words. Private enterprise built it, government destroyed it.
A lot of what children go through is because you adults don't carry the burden yourself.