“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.”

Why of course the people don’t want war…that is understood. But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship …Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

“The delights of self-discovery are always available.”

“If your image does not work, put a dog in it. If it still doesn’t work, put a bandage on the dog.”

“The life of the artist is the refusal of sex. Art proceeds from the inability to seduce. I’m not capable of convincing anyone to love me. In reality the equation is: sex and murder, sex and death.”

“If you just give the people the truth, the Republic will be safe.”

“People often ask me how I want to be remembered. I tell them that to be remembered at all is pretty special.”

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

“Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends.”

“Conservatives love America like a child loves his mommy. And Mommy can do no wrong. Liberals love America like an adult loves someone – recognizing our mate might have some faults. We take the good with the bad always working to appreciate what’s there and being critical of what’s wrong, trying to help make it better.”

“One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words, it is expressed in the choices one makes.”

“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.”

“Insights flourish best when the thinker is apparently wasting time.”

“You see, we should make use of the forces of nature and should obtain all our power in this way. Sunshine is a form of energy, wind and sea currents are manifestations of this energy. Do we make use of them? Oh no! We burn forests and coal like tenants burning down our front door for heating. We live like wild settlers and not as though these resources belong to us.”

“Once I finish writing, the rest of the day posthumous.”

“The rich keep all the money, pay none of the taxes. The middle class pay all the taxes, do all of the work. The poor… are just there to scare the shit out of the middle class.”

“We do not know the actual other person. What we know is the sum of everything we think we know about them. Even empathy is perhaps of no use; we think it helps us understand how other people feel, but maybe it only tells us how we would feel, if we were them.”

“An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.”

“If we could only pull out our brain and use only our eyes.”

“Stealing from one is plagiarism; stealing from many is research.”