The final wisdom of life requires not the annulment of incongruity but the achievement of serenity within and above it.

I had a 2-week courtship with a fellow student in the fiction workshop in Iowa and a 5-minute wedding in a lawyer's office above the coffee shop where we'd been having lunch that day. And so I sent a cable to my father saying 'By the time you get this Daddy I'll already be Mrs. Blaise!'

The whole point of being in the Army is wanting to get killed wanting to test yourself to the limits. Now you have to fly 15 000ft above the war zone to avoid getting hit. I don't think there is any point in having wars if that's how you're going to behave. It's pathetic. All this whining!

Cursed be he above all others Who's enslaved by love of money. Money takes the place of brothers Money takes the place of parents Money brings us war and slaughter.

Four years ago I promised to end the war in Iraq. We did. I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have. We've blunted the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan and in 2014 our longest war will be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline al Qaeda is on the path to defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead.

I make one pledge above all others - to seek and speak the truth with all the resources of mind and spirit I command.

Truth will rise above falsehood as oil above water.

For above all things Love means sweetness and truth and measure yea loyalty to the loved one and to your word. And because of this I dare not meddle with so high a matter.

Truth indeed rather alleviates than hurts and will always bear up against falsehood as oil does above water.

Truth may be stretched but cannot be broken and always gets above falsehood as does oil above water.