“Comedy is the most important thing in the world except for justice.” Sigourney Weaver

“The greatest sin is judgment without knowledge.” Kelsey Grammar

“Money is not going to make you happy. A new idea is what makes you happy.” Fifty Cent

“Sports teach you how to be quick. Injuries teach you how to slow down.” Yao Ming

“I wasn’t so interested in being paid. I wanted to be heard. That’s why I’m broke.” Ornette Coleman

“Psychology is as important as substance. If you treat people with respect, they’ll go our of their way to accommodate you. If you treat them in a patronizing way, they will go out of their way to make your life difficult.” Mohamed ElBaradei (director general, International Atomic Energy Agency)

“What makes for a good character is weakness and strength–that combination that we all have. It’s often missing from characters in badly crafted stories.” James Spader

“The key to milking a cow is you don’t actually pull your hand down; you move your fingers. You’ve got to press the milk out.” Katie Stam (Miss America)

“We have a very good law in Maine: When you catch a female, you carve a notch into the tail and throw it back. The industry has grown under that law. It proves if you take care of the female, she’ll do you good business.” George Johnson (lobsterman)

(The January Esquire has a bunch of those “What I’ve Learned” lists in it.)