Quotes to inspire and reflect

One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes... and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.

Probably the happiest period in life most frequently is in middle age, when the eager passions of youth are cooled, and the infirmities of age not yet begun; as we see that the shadows, which are at morning and evening so large, almost entirely disappear at midday.

We fought a war on poverty, and poverty won.

Now let's set the record straight. There's no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there's only one guaranteed way you can have peace—and you can have it in the next second—surrender.

Radio was theater of the mind.

The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.

I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph, and there is purpose and worth to each and every life.

If more government is the answer, then it was a really stupid question.

Government is not a solution to our problem government is the problem.

Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.

A people free to choose will always choose peace.

Freedom is not free.

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.

Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders.

You can’t tax business. Business doesn’t pay taxes. It collects taxes.

Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.

Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders. ... The Goliath of totalitarianism will be brought down by the David of the microchip.

Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don't need it and hell where they already have it.

Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do.

All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.

America is too great for small dreams.

America is, and always will be, a shining city on a hill.

I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent.

I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.

All my stepchildren carried the burden of my fame. Sometimes they would read terrible things about me, and I'd worry about whether it would hurt them. I would tell them: 'Don't hide these things from me. I'd rather you ask me these things straight out, and I'll answer all your questions.'

If your man is a sports enthusiast, you may have to resign yourself to his spouting off in a monotone on a prize fight, football game or pennant race.

I'm one of the world's most self-conscious people. I really have to struggle.

One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I'm a woman. That is the way all females should feel.

No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they're pretty, even if they aren't.

Of course, it does depend on the people, but sometimes I'm invited places to kind of brighten up a dinner table like a musician who'll play the piano after dinner, and I know you're not really invited for yourself. You're just an ornament.

I remember when I was in high school I didn't have a new dress for each special occasion. The girls would bring the fact to my attention, not always too delicately. The boys, however, never bothered with the subject. They were my friends, not because of the size of my wardrobe but because they liked me.

Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you'd never complete your life, would you? You'd never wholly know you.

There is just no comparison between having a dinner date with a man and staying home playing canasta with the girls.

The trouble with censors is that they worry if a girl has cleavage. They ought to worry if she hasn't any.

Fame is fickle, and I know it. It has its compensations but it also has its drawbacks, and I've experienced them both.

I think that sexuality is only attractive when it's natural and spontaneous.

Naturally, there are times when every woman likes to be flattered... to feel she is the most important thing in someone's world. Only a man can paint this picture.

Designers want me to dress like Spring, in billowing things. I don't feel like Spring. I feel like a warm red Autumn.

I am not a victim of emotional conflicts. I am human.

Men are so willing to respect anything that bores them.

Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.

I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot.

I've often stood silent at a party for hours listening to my movie idols turn into dull and little people.

Consider the fellow. He never spends his time telling you about his previous night's date. You get the idea he has eyes only for you and wouldn't think of looking at another woman.

I think one of the basic reasons men make good friends is that they can make up their minds quickly.

Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection.