One afternoon ... I was seized and put into jail, because ... I did not pay a tax to, or recognize the authority of, the state which buys men, women, and children, like cattle at the door of its senate house. I had gone down to the woods for other purposes. But, wherever a man goes, men will pursue and paw him with their dirty institutions, and, if they can, constrain him to belong to their desperate odd-fellow society.

This slavery breeds ugly passions in man.

Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.

A new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree.

Yes, our country has its shortcomings, but there's no moral equivalency between democracy and totalitarianism…There's no moral equivalency between propaganda and the truth.

You have to be able to face losing some things you might want in order to be free to do the right thing.

Capitalism has worked very well. Anyone who wants to move to North Korea is welcome.

People who want to manipulate you will fear your joy, because it's not easily controlled.

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous, you don't want it.

Oh, 1994, April 27. There won't be a day like that ever again. I mean, the sky was blue, with a blueness that had never been there before.

I've been told I'd get so much more work if I was smaller, but going out for dinner and drinks with my friend is more important to me than size.

It means what you are, wanting what you want and going after it without a sens od shame. People are slaves to rules.