Don't let the price of the painting determine its quality, because there will come a time when the painting itself will determine its price.
It is not success that deserves rewards, but effort.
No man has lived a true life unless he has been purified by a woman's love, strengthened by her courage, and guided by her calm judgment.
Never seek pleasure, but always be ready to find pleasure in everything.
The path to knowledge is never a silky road strewn with lilies: man is always forced to climb bare rocks.
Devote yourself to your work with all your heart and soul, but before you do it, see that it is a good work.
Since life is very short and free time is very little, we should not waste it reading worthless books.
He succeeds in life only whose heart becomes gentler, his blood hotter, his mind more alive, and his spirit calmer.
The qualities are given to the strong and the wise not to oppress the weak, but to help and support them.
Down hands are not always submissive.
Look at each new dawn as the beginning of your life and each sunset as the end of your life. May each of these short lives be marked by a good deed, a victory over self, or the acquisition of knowledge.
The essence of the appearance of vulgarity lies in the search for the spectacular.
I believe in the nobility of the human being, in the greatness of his forces, in the fullness of his mercy and in the joy of loving.
To be afraid of love is to be afraid of life, and he who is afraid of life is half dead.
In America, everyone is firmly convinced that there is no one above him in the social hierarchy. It is true, but there is no one below him.
In a democracy, an honest politician can only be tolerated if he is very stupid. For only a foolish politician can honestly share the prejudices of half a nation.
In this dangerous century of ours there are many people who love misery and death and get very angry when hopes are fulfilled.
In our great democratic society, as it once was, there is the opinion that the stupid man is mostly more honest than the smart one, and our politicians, using this prejudice in their own interest, pretend to be much more stupid than they really are .
Our schools do not teach what is most important, namely the art of reading newspapers.
Instead of killing your neighbor, even if you hate him very much, you must, with the help of propaganda, transfer your hatred of your neighbor to a neighboring state, and then your criminal impulses will miraculously transform into the heroism of the patriot.
During the shipwreck, the team carries out the captain's orders without thinking, because the sailors have a common goal, but also the means to achieve this goal are obvious and clear. But if this captain, like the government, were to begin to explain to the sailors his principles of running the ship to demonstrate the legality of the orders given, the ship would sink before he could finish his speech.
At all times, from the reign of Constantine until the end of the 17th century, Christians were cruelly persecuted by other Christians, as the Roman emperors once did.
Here, on this shelf, is the Bible. And I keep it with Voltaire - both are like poison and antidote.
Universal history is the totality of all things that could have been avoided.
Any exact science is based on approximations.
Each feeling taken separately is madness. Rational judgment might be defined as a synthesis of madness... He who would retain his rational judgment must assemble a whole parliament of the most possible horrors, each of which would become better than the others.
Would you give your life for your ideas? - Of course not.
After all, I can be wrong.
The most important shortcoming of fathers is that they want their children to be proud of them.
Even in a civilized society the instinct of monogamy speaks for itself.