Happiness does not exist, nor should it, and if there is any meaning or purpose in life, they are not in our peddling little happiness, but in something reasonable and grand. Do good!

The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths.

Country life has its advantages, ' he used to say. 'You sit on the veranda drinking tea and your ducklings swim on the pond, and everything smells good. . . and there are gooseberries.

The Lie which elates us is dearer than a thousand sober truths

You need mountains, long staircases don't make good hikers.

If you have an elegant stance, a noble stance, an ethical stance or a scientific stance, you will not be appreciated by the inelegant, by the ignoble, by the unethical or by the unscientific people!

I had a vision of what it would look like if like seventy people at the same time went nuts and sprayed water everywhere.

I don't think I was ever...trying to kill myself but I knew that if I'd ever gone too far...I wouldn't care.

[E]very time you think the entertainment moguls have hit rock bottom, they reach for the jackhammer and rat-a-tat-tat a little deeper.

Shackled heart, free spirit.--Whoever binds his heart tightly and imprisons it may indulge his spirit in many liberties: I have already said that once. But no one believes me unless he already knows.

I live a lonely photographic life here in Santa Fe. I do see Eliot Porter occasionally, and Ansel storms through every so often, otherwise I plug along in my old fashioned way.

Nobody is the same. If we were all the same it would be bloody boring.

Either we're aware and present, or we're not. There is no half way.

To a book collector, you see, the true freedom of all books is somewhere on his shelves.