Poetry should... should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts and appear almost a remembrance.

My point was that removing Saddam should not have been our highest priority. Fighting terrorism should have been our number one concern followed by the Palestinian peace process.

Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace easy taxes and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.

Piety is not a goal but a means to attain through the purest peace of mind the highest culture.

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

Fathers and mothers have lost the idea that the highest aspiration they might have for their children is for them to be wise... specialized competence and success are all that they can imagine.

The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature in her manner of operation.

God is each truly and exalted thing therefore the individual himself to the highest degree. But are not nature and the world individuals?

Music is my life professionally for nearly 60 years. To be recognized by the academy is still the highest honor.

Music must take rank as the highest of the fine arts - as the one which more than any other ministers to the human spirit.