Almost all four faults are more pardonable than the methods we think up to hide them

Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrputs the many.

You can not do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.

A language is like living skin itself.

The exercise of power is determined by thousands ofinteractions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, allthe more so because these worlds are never divided by a sharp line: everyonehas a small part of himself in both.

Greatideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds.

Conflictis the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. Itinstigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheeplikepassivity, and sets us at noting and contriving.

Life is progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.

Let uswork without disputing. It is the only way to render life tolerable.

It is less dangerous to treat most men badly than to treat them too well.

When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannothurt you.

Thehardest step is over the threshold.