The quote database

the need of society drives the human porcupines together--only to be mutually repelled by the many prickly and disagreeable qualities of their nature

To have no regular work, no set sphere of activity--what a miserable thing it is!

It is the monotony of his own nature that makes a man find solitude intolerable.

There is a direct pleasure in seeing work grow under one's hands day by day, until at last it is finished.

The present alone is true and actual; it is the only time which possesses full reality, and our existence lies in it exclusively.

No man is so formed that he can be left entirely to himself, to go his own ways; everyone needs to be guided by a preconceived plan, and to follow certain general rules.

Great minds are like eagles, and build their nest in some lofty solitude.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that a man cannot forget,--but not himself, his own character.

In old age it is indeed a consolation to think that the work of life is over and done with.

our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

But through the process of amendment, interpretation and court decision I have finally been included in “We, the people.”

My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.

Drive thy business, let not that drive thee; and early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise, as Poor Richard says.

God helps them that help themselves, as Poor Richard says.

I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it

From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books.

While my care was employ'd in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason.

The oath taken in the presence of the people becomes a mutual covenant.

The man who has come to regard the ballot box as a juggler's hat has renounced his allegiance.

We should hold our differing opinions in mutual respect, and, having submitted them to the arbitrament of the ballot, should accept an adverse judgment with the same respect that we would have demanded of our opponents if the decision had been in our favor.

They will presently themselves be compelled to appeal to the law for protection, and those who would use the law as a defense must not deny that use of it to others.

No political party can long pursue advantage at the expense of public honor or by rude and indecent methods without protest and fatal disaffection in its own body.

Powerful people maneuver for position and worry endlessly about who is in and who is out, who is up and who is down, forgetting those people whose toil and sweat sends us here and pays our way.