There's no future. There's no past. I live each moment as my last.
There ought to be system of manners in every nation which a well-formed mind would be disposed to relish. To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
The great difference between the real leader and the pretender is that the one sees into the future, while the other regards only the present; the one lives by the day, and acts upon expediency; the other acts on enduring principles and for the immortality.
Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.
The hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.
Humour allows us to see that ultimately things don't make sense. The only thing that truly makes sense is letting go of anything we continue to hold on to. Our ego-mind and emotions are a dramatic illusion. Of course, we all feel that they're real: my drama, your drama, our confrontations. We create these elaborate scenarios and then react to them. But there is nothing really happening outside our mind! This is karma's cosmic joke. You can laugh about the irony of this, or you can stick with your scenario. It's your choice.
In wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do
Patriotism takes the place of religion in France. In the service of la patrie, the doing of one's duty is elevated into the sphere of exalted emotion.
We consider a prisoner unfortunate. He is unfortunate in two ways-because he has done something wrong and because he is deprived of his liberty. Therefore we should treat him kindly, because of his misfortune, for otherwise he would become hard and bitter and would not be sorry he had done wrong.