Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
No government ought to be without censors and where the press is free no one ever will. Chance is the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign.
Scientific views end in awe and mystery lost at the edge in uncertainty but they appear to be so deep and so impressive that the theory that it is all arranged as a stage for God to watch man's struggle for good and evil seems inadequate.
There are matters in the Bible said to be done by the express commandment of God that are shocking to humanity and to every idea we have of moral justice.
The soles of Neil Armstrong's boots on the moon made permanent impressions on our souls and in our national psyche. Ann and I watched those steps together on her parent's sofa. Like all Americans we went to bed that night knowing we lived in the greatest country in the history of the world. God bless Neil Armstrong.
I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created parasitic wasps with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars.
I tremble for my country when I hear of confidence expressed in me. I know too well my weakness that our only hope is in God.
Thanksgiving is a time when the world gets to see just how blessed and how workable the Christian system is. The emphasis is not on giving or buying but on being thankful and expressing that appreciation to God and to one another.
What a piece of work is a man how noble in reason how infinite in faculties in form and moving how express and admirable in action how like an angel in apprehension how like a god.
Web 2.0 ideas have a chirpy cheerful rhetoric to them but I think they consistently express a profound pessimism about humans human nature and the human future.
The impressions of the spriritual experiences gave my future life its form and content.
A lost election can have the jolt of a drop through the gallows door leading to a dark night of the soul in which the future presses down like a cloud that will never lift.
More is required of public officials than slogans and handshakes and press releases. More is required. We must hold ourselves strictly accountable. We must provide the people with a vision of the future.
I found when I left that there were others who felt the same way. We'd meet they'd come and seek me out we'd talk about the future. And I found that their depression and pessimism was every bit as acute as mine.
Depression is the inability to construct a future.
The future rewards those who press on. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on.
During the Great Depression when people laughed their worries disappeared. Audiences loved these funny men. I decided to become one.
I love New York. I was sad depressed and incredibly moved by our fellow countrymen and what they've done. I wanted to give people a chance to see something funny have a distraction.
The Islam of the 18th 19th and first half of the 20th century was a poor thing. Nobody bothered about it. Islam was that funny sort of pure system of beliefs that depressed people in the Middle East held as their religion.
I can do comedy so people want me to do that but the other side of comedy is depression. Deep deep depression is the flip side of comedy. Casting agents don't realize it but in order to be funny you have to have that other side.
I do find comedy difficult. I don't know why. Maybe I think about it too much. There's a tremendous amount of pressure to be funny.
I actually find novels that are determined to be funny at every turn quite oppressive.
Everyone comes up to me saying 'Cooee Julie! Hello!' as if I know them. Of course I don't bloody know them. Am I flummoxed by it? Sometimes. I think 'Ooh love go easy.' For a time I did feel this pressure that I had to be funny but it passes.