Debt is part of the human condition. Civilization is based on exchanges – on gifts, trades, loans – and the revenges and insults that come when they are not paid back.

We’ve gotta become the Martians. I’m a Martian – I tell you to become Martians. And we’ve gotta go to Mars and civilize Mars and build a whole civilization on Mars and then move out, 300 years from now into the universe. And when we do that, we have a chance of living forever.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.

In Europe first and now in America, elected men have taken it upon themselves to indebt their people to create an atmosphere of dependency. And why? For their own selfish need to increase their own personal power.

Before Nelson Mandela was arrested in 1962, he was an angry, relatively young man. He founded the ANC’s military wing. When he was released, he surprised everyone because he was talking about reconciliation and forgiveness and not about revenge.

Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.

I performed in a bowling alley before while people were still bowling. Cut the check, and I will perform anywhere.

It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.

Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities.

There are few things more dreadful than dealing with a man who knows he is going under, in his own eyes, and in the eyes of others. Nothing can help that man. What is left of that man flees from what is left of human attention.

Some of our earliest writing, in cuneiform, was about who owes what.

I have a scheme for stopping war. It’s this – no nation is allowed to enter a war till they have paid for the last one.

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.

In the twenty-first century, the robot will take the place which slave labor occupied in ancient civilization.

The spread of civilisation may be likened to a fire; first, a feeble spark, next a flickering flame, then a mighty blaze, ever increasing in speed and power.

It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much.

The ultimate tendency of civilization is towards barbarism.

I still have my first paycheck. It was just, I think, a dollar or two that I got when I started as a songwriter with BMI, and I had some songs there that I had through the company, and in the mail I got this big old check for, like, a dollar and a half or something. Somebody had recorded one of my songs.

We get paid for bringing value to the market place.

Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.

This will never be a civilized country until we spend more money for books than we do for chewing gum.

Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defense can be just.

It is impossible to suffer without making someone pay for it; every complaint already contains revenge.

Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his country, it is a sign that he expects to be paid for it.

The only big things I’ve purchased are my dad’s heart valve and a Rolls-Royce for my parents, for their anniversary. And that was only because my dad had a Lady Gaga license plate on our old car and it was making me crazy because he was getting followed everywhere, so I bought him a new car.

My doctor told me I shouldn’t work out until I’m in better shape. I told him, ‚All right; don’t send me a bill until I pay you.‘

A doctor gave a man six months to live. The man couldn’t pay his bill, so he gave him another six months.

Revenge, lust, ambition, pride, and self-will are too often exalted as the gods of man’s idolatry; while holiness, peace, contentment, and humility are viewed as unworthy of a serious thought.

Books! I dunno if I ever told you this, but books are the greatest gift one person can give another.

I want to challenge you today to get out of your comfort zone. You have so much incredible potential on the inside. God has put gifts and talents in you that you probably don’t know anything about.

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool.

The existentialist says at once that man is anguish.

This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.

Unlike Europe, China can’t be intimidated. Europe backs down if the United States looks at it the wrong way. But China, they’ve been there for 3,000 years and are paying no attention to the barbarians and don’t see any need to.

I have been struck again and again by how important measurement is to improving the human condition.

Innovation is a good thing. The human condition – put aside bioterrorism and a few footnotes – is improving because of innovation.

Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries – for heavy ones they cannot.

I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it – not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.

The diversity of India, of our civilization, is actually a thing of beauty, which is something we are extremely proud of.

Those have a short Lent who owe money to be paid at Easter.

The development of civilization and industry in general has always shown itself so active in the destruction of forests that everything that has been done for their conservation and production is completely insignificant in comparison.

Credit is a system whereby a person who can not pay gets another person who can not pay to guarantee that he can pay.

One civilization after another has been wrecked upon the attempt to secure sufficient leadership from a single group or class.

Iraq is no diversion. It is a place where civilization is taking a decisive stand against chaos and terror, we must not waver.

We’ve persevered because of a belief we share with the Iraqi people – a belief that out of the ashes of war, a new beginning could be born in this cradle of civilization. Through this remarkable chapter in the history of the United States and Iraq, we have met our responsibility. Now, it’s time to turn the page.

If the battle for civilization comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.

Debt is a social and ideological construct, not a simple economic fact.

The problem is that the U.S. government is the biggest debtor in the world, and those depending on it to take care of them will only become poorer.

Virtuous people often revenge themselves for the constraints to which they submit by the boredom which they inspire.

At Christmas, I am always struck by how the spirit of togetherness lies also at the heart of the Christmas story. A young mother and a dutiful father with their baby were joined by poor shepherds and visitors from afar. They came with their gifts to worship the Christ child.

All empires come to an end, and the American one is no exception.

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

Civilization is the making of civil persons.

I don’t talk trash often, but when I do, I go for the jugular.

If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.

At my lowest point, I was nearly $700,000 in debt.

You can’t say civilization don’t advance… in every war they kill you in a new way.

I believe that God has put gifts and talents and ability on the inside of every one of us. When you develop that and you believe in yourself and you believe that you’re a person of influence and a person of purpose, I believe you can rise up out of any situation.

I gave ‚em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I’d have done the same thing.

I declared bankruptcy, and that was the worst thing I ever should have done.