Knowingthat everything's futile but still fighting, still raging against the dying ofthe light that's what motivates me all the time ... If you hold that sense offutility in your head for too long, it can begin to eat into you. You canstill be aware of it

The greatest job of teachers is to cultivate talent until it ripens for the public to reap its bounty.

The highest pleasure to be got out of freedom, and having nothing to do, is labour

Who digs a pit for others will fall in themselves.

Politicians are like ships; noisiest when lost in a fog.

I have discovered the art of deceiving diplomats. I speakthe truth, and they never believe me.

Knowlege is two-fold, and consists not only an affirmation of what is true, but in the negation of that which is faise

Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties.

It is a strange desire, to seek power, and to loseliberty; or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man's self.

Remembernot only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficultstill, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

Whateverfailures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies Ihave witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of actionwithout thought.

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried onhim personally.