Country manners. Even if somebody phones up to tell you your house is burning down, they ask first how you are.

You cannot let your parents anywhere near your real humiliations.

The complexity of things - the things within things - just seems to be endless. I mean nothing is easy, nothing is simple.

Always remember that when a man goes out of the room, he leaves everything in it behind. When a woman goes out she carries everything that happened in the room along with her.

I would really hope this would make people see the short story as an important art, not just something you played around with until you got a novel.

The conversation of kisses. Subtle, engrossing, fearless, transforming.

In your life there are a few places, or maybe only the one place, where something happened, and then there are all the other places.

We say of some things that they can't be forgiven, or that we will never forgive ourselves. But we do-we do it all the time.

My head was a magpie's nest lined with such bright scraps of information.

Love removes the world for you, and just as surely when it's going well as when it's going badly.

Life would be grand if it weren't for the people.

To find the truth, try to follow the Socratic method. Just don’t forget to follow your intuition and imagination.

The unendurable is the beginning of the curve of joy.

The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself.

Don't fear failure. Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.

Whatever you need will be provided. Eternity takes care of everything perfectly. So never want for that which you do not have; you have exactly what you need.

A simple life is its own reward.

I used to work in a factory and I was really happy because I could daydream all day.

I was delighted with the film [Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth]; it almost made me want to be a film-maker!

The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires.

I was always one of those guys who was a seeker after truth. I want to know what's going on.