Contemplation and writing demand solitude, which leads to a sorry feeling of isolation and detachment. Writers try to call their loneliness genius, and the world believes them most of the time.

We are not born with a need for knowledge, but a hunger for it. Eve bit the apple and it has been gluttony ever since.

Is it not ignorance that we share? A lie takes two. The truth we find alone.

Race should be seen in one way, and one way only: on your marks, get set, go!

Infatuation is measured in pleasure. Love is measured in pain. Behold the value of pain!

Wisdom doesn’t come only from the experience you have had, but from the experience you have chosen not to have.

No philosopher was ever apathetic. If there is no love, it is not philosophy.

To measure up takes skill, but to err is an art.

Novelty does not require intelligence, but ignorance, which is why the young excel in this branch.

The key to writing is something to be stolen. How else does one open the door to a house of thieves?

Stereotypes are based on the idea that two heads are bigger than one.

Sun shines above making diamonds of lightTink-tinkling, tap dancing and bright.

Of course I'm jealous. I thought I was going to get to punch him. That isn't the point.

His fists clenched at his sides. 'Damn it! Where's your pride?' 'Pride? It's in my heart, of course.' 'You're letting me demean you!' She smiled. 'You can't do that. I can only demean myself.

A piazza is not a plaza. The plaza is the theme park of the piazza the plaza is the commercial version. A piazza is an empty space with no function. This is what Europeans understand.

All the housemaid hopes is, happiness for 'em - but marriage is a lottery, and the more she thinks about it, the more she feels the independence and the safety of a single life.

I am basically a religious man.

One has to get through a big pile of mail every day. I don't pass my letters on to a secretary; rather, I try to take care of all of them myself.

I also maintain that clear knowledge of natural science must be acquired, in the first instance, through mastery of medicine alone.

Ireland sober is Ireland stiff.

I always use primary sources, in addition to reading biographies and other materials.