Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.

Unsatisfied desire is in itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.

Life is a disease, brother, and death begins already at birth. Every breath, every heartbeat, is a moment of dying - a little shove toward the end.

During the first period of a man's life the greatest danger is not to take the risk.

Every person who ever thought he had a right to assert, and went boldly and asserted it, himself, or jointly with others that shared his convictions, was a direct actionist.

We were all at once terribly alone; and alone we must see it through.

One man with a gun can control 100 without one.

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.

You have to go on and be crazy. Craziness is like heaven.

The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement; you ought not to be thinking of whether it ends in victory or defeat. Let nature take its course, and your tools will strike at the right moment.

Mastery of the emotions is fundamental to a virtuous life.

Life did not intend to make us perfect. Whoever is perfect belongs in a museum.

Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.

I can't help thinking that there are only one or two ways of being brought into this world, but there are so many fucked-up ways of leaving it.

Live simply so others may simply live.

If you've been playing poker for half an hour and you still don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy.

Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

I am not young enough to know everything.

To forgive is not just to be altruistic.

Don't let making a living prevent you from making a life.