As a rule of thumb I say, if Socrates, Jesus and Tolstoy wouldn't do it, don't.

Self pity is easily the most destructive of the non-pharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive, gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from reality.

Talking, talking. Spinning a web of words, pale walls of dreams, between myself and all I see.

We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and we begin to forget that we are reading printed words on a page; we begin to see images.

What art ought to do is tell stories which are moment-by-moment wonderful, which are true to human experience, and which in no way explain human experience.

The citizen can bring our political and governmental institutions back to life, make them responsive and accountable, and keep them honest. No one else can.

Fiction does not spring into the world fully grown, like Athena. It is the process of writing and rewriting that makes a fiction original, if not profound.

Art, of course, is a way of thinking, a way of mining reality.

When people are serving, life is no longer meaningless.

One of the many interesting challenges nature presents us is its apparent disinterest in maintaining the order humans crave.

One must be just a little crazy to write a great novel. One must be capable of allowing the darkest, most ancient and shrewd parts of one’s being to take over the work from time to time.

God does not give money. He gives the power to get wealth.

To be a success, love what you do and what you love.

It may be hard to monetize fame, but it is impossible to monetize obscurity.

It's not that we have to give to support the gospel. Giving is the gospel.

Presidents generally do what they are good at in their first four years, then spend their second term responding to the agendas imposed upon them by events.

If love be a god, why should not lovers be virtuous?

Fischer is the greatest genius to descend from the chess heavens.

Read a little. Meditate more. Think of God all the time.

Joys come from simple and natural things: mists over meadows, sunlight on leaves, the path of the moon over water.