All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Parents are usually more careful to bestow knowledge on their children rather than virtue, the art of speaking well rather than doing well; but their manners should be of the greatest concern.

I have only ever read one book in my life, and that is White Fang. It's so frightfully good I've never bothered to read another.

Gold and silver from the dead turn often into lead.

A jug fills drop by drop.

My specialty is detached malevolence.

I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty.

I don't try to imagine a personal god; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.

When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.

The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.

I want to go ahead of Father Time with a scythe of my own.

The destruction of the past is perhaps the greatest of all crimes.

There is the view that poetry should improve your life. I think people confuse it with the Salvation Army.

You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.

In ballet a complicated story is impossible to tell... we can't dance synonyms.

Enthusiasm... the sustaining power of all great action.

The cloud is free only to go with the wind. The rain is free only in falling.

If one is to be called a liar, one may as well make an effort to deserve the name.

I have no idea. People who boast about their IQ are losers.

Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay.