Best-sellerism is the star system of the book world. A "best seller" is a celebrity among books. It is a book known primarily (sometimes exclusively) for its well-knownness.

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.

The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes 'sight-seeing.'

Human models are more vivid and more persuasive than explicit moral commands.

The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource, adding color and suspense to all our life.

Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.

I write to discover what I think.

Knowledge is not simply another commodity. On the contrary. Knowledge is never used up. It increases by diffusion and grows by dispersion.

Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out knowledge.

We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions. We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in their place.

When you dive into your past, remember to go back up quickly.

As an introvert, you crave intimate moments and deep connections--and those usually aren't found in a crowd.

Clenched fists are not open to receive blessings.

The world is round, and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.

The best friend is he that, when he wishes a person's good, wishes it for that person's own sake.

The thing I know for sure is that at the end of my life, what I'm going to remember is the love I felt for my family and my friends, and whatever good I did for other people.

You might be a redneck if the hood and one door are a different color from the rest of your car.

The only place that I'd be worried about being typecast is the independent film world.

The sound and just the fact that it was different from the piano, yet it still had some familiarity [made my fascinated with accordion].

There are some things around us that are not actually useful. I didn't know that before. It's very new for me to understand. That became my way of writing: I can see also the new myself.