“Man will do MANY things to get himself loved. Man will do ALL things to get himself envied.”

“When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet deep down in his private heart no man much respects himself.”

“Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man. The biography of the man himself cannot be written.”

“Man is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight”

“What a wee little part of a person's life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself. All day long, the mill of his brain is grinding, and his thoughts, not those of other things, are his history. These are his life, and they are not written. Everyday would make a whole book of 80,000 words -- 365 books a year. Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man -- the biography of the man himself cannot be written.”

“It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a photograph, or a telephone or any other important thing—and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others. He added his little mite — that is all he did. These object lessons should teach us that ninety-nine parts of all things that proceed from the intellect are plagiarisms, pure and simple; and the lesson ought to make us modest. But nothing can do that.”

“A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.”