Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
I am eternally grateful.. for my knack of finding in great books, some of them very funny books, reason enough to feel honored to be alive, no matter what else might be going on.
I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our own particular path than we have yet got ourselves.
Here is a great body of our Jewish citizens from whom have sprung men of genius in every walk of our varied life; men who have conceived of its ideals with singular clearness; and led enterprises with sprit & sagacity… They are not Jews in America, they are American citizens.
The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice, and the desire for personal independence – these are the features of Jewish tradition that make me thank my stars that I belong to it.
Never be bored, and you will never be boring.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything. It is the essence of order, and leads to all that is god, just, and beautiful, of which it is the invisible, but never less, dazzaling,
What other people think about me is not my business.