I am talking about societies drained of their essence, cultures trampled underfoot, institutions undermined, lands confiscated, religions smashed, magnificent artistic creations destroyed, extraordinary possibilities wiped out.

It’s not the appearance, it’s the essence. It’s not the money, it’s the education. It’s not the clothes, it’s the class.

The very essence of instinct is that it’s followed independently of reason.

What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.

What we call love is in its essence reverence for life.

It is with the soul that we grasp the essence of another human being, not with the mind, nor even with the heart.

War, we have come to believe, is a spectator sport. The military and the press have turned war into a vast video arcade game. Its very essence-death-is hidden from public view.

Self-help and self-control are the essence of the American tradition.

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

The essence of health is inner balance.

Shame on such a morality that is worthy of pariahs, and that fails to recognize the eternal essence that exists in every living thing, and shines forth with inscrutable significance from all eyes that see the sun!

The essence of independence has been to think and act according to standards from within, not without.

In actual life it requires the greatest discipline to be simple, and the acceptance of oneself is the essence of the moral problem and the epitome of a whole outlook upon life.

The essence of greatness is the ability to choose personal fulfillment in circumstances where others choose madness.

The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one’s self.

Women need solitude in order to find again the true essence of themselves.

Silence… is the essence of the music itself, the vital ingredient that makes it possible for the music to exist at all.

The essence of drawing is the line exploring space.

The essence of the enjoyment of a garden is that things should look as though they like to grow in it.

If you can attribute your success entirely to your own mental effort, to your own attitude, to some spiritual essence that you have that is better than other peoples, then that must feel pretty good.

What the Supreme Court did in Citizens United is to say to these same billionaires and the corporations they control: ‘You own and control the economy, you own Wall Street, you own the coal companies, you own the oil companies. Now, for a very small percentage of your wealth, we’re going to give you the opportunity to own the United States Government.’ This is the essence of what Citizens United is all about – and that’s why it must be overturned.

The essence of fighting is the art of moving at the right time.

Credit is a matter so subtle in its essence, that, as it may be obtained almost without reason, so, without reason, may it be made to melt away.

The essence of a successful business is really quite simple. It is your ability to offer a product or service that people will pay for at a price sufficiently above your costs, ideally three or four or five times your cost, thereby giving you a profit that enables you to buy and to offer more products and services.

The essence of good manners consists in making it clear that one has no wish to hurt. When it is clearly necessary to hurt, it must be done in such a way as to make it evident that the necessity is felt to be regrettable.

In golf, humiliations are the essence of the game.

Practice is the hardest part of learning, and training is the essence of transformation.

The effect of music is so very much more powerful and penetrating than is that of the other arts, for these others speak only of the shadow, but music of the essence.

The essence of childhood, of course, is play.

I wanted to paint nothing. I was looking for something that was the essence of nothing, and the soup can was it.

If you’re able to be yourself, then you have no competition. All you have to do is get closer and closer to that essence.

There are almost no worldly signals reminding us to stay connected to the essence of who we are, to take care of ourselves along the way, to reach out to others, to pause to wonder, and to connect to that place from which everything is possible.

I’ve realized that the world is, in essence, full of banana peels – loaded with things that may unwittingly trip an internal wire in my mind, opening a floodgate of fears without warning.

The essence of positioning is sacrifice. You must be willing to give up something in order to establish that unique position.