I always figured the American public wanted a solemn ass for president, so I went along with them.
Poetry is in itself strength and joy, whether it be crowned by all mankind, or left alone in its own magic hermitage.
Instinct is intelligence incapable of self-consciousness.
Colors answer feeling in man; shapes answer thought; and motion answers will.
Emotion turning back on itself, and not leading on to thought or action, is the element of madness.
One dupe is as impossible as one twin.
A man without earnestness is a mournful and perplexing spectacle. But it is a consolation to believe, as we must of such a one, that he is the most effectual and compulsive of all schools.
I wonder if I've been changed in the night. Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!
Guard, O my soul, against pomp and glory. And if you cannot curb your ambitions, at least pursue them hesitantly, cautiously. And the higher you go, the more searching and careful you need to be.
Intelligence is like pornography. I can't define it, but I know if when I see it.
If, for instance, you put in a Malay officer who's very religious and who has family ties in Malaysia in charge of a machine gun unit, that's a very tricky business. We've got to know his background. . . I'm saying these things because they are real, and if I don't think that, and I think even if today the Prime Minister doesn't think carefully about this, I and my family could have a tragedy.