"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions."

"Nothing in the world makes people so afraid as the influence of independent-minded people."

"Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty."

"To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself."

"'I want to know Gods thoughts.... all the rest are just details"

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see."

"The National Rifle Association says, 'Guns don't kill people. People do'. But I think the gun helps."

"I am not merry; but I do beguileThe thing I am, by seeming otherwise."

"Computers force us into creating with our minds and prevent us from making things with our hands. They dull the skills we use in everyday life."

"One of the amusements of idleness is reading without the fatigue of attention, and the world, therefore, swarms with writers whose wish is not to be studied but to be read."

"War cannot be avoided; it can only be postponed to the other's advantage."