"Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild."

"The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action."

"Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey."

"Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it."

"Each blade of grass has its spot on earth whence it draws its life, its strength and so is man rooted to the land from which he draws his faith together with his life."

"In 1989 when I switched from Democrat to Republican, with God as my witness, not one thing changed about what I believed about one man and one woman in a marriage or about diversity of color. That's a good thing."

"We are more thoroughly an enlightened people, with respect to our political interests, than perhaps any other under heaven. Every man among us reads, and is so easy in his circumstances as to have leisure for conversations of improvement and for acquiring information."

"Superstition is the only religion of which base souls are capable of."