He was himself, and he knew what he had been.

It was a passion neither of the mind nor of the heart, it was a force that comprehended them both, as if they were but the matter of love, its specific substance.

But the required survey of English literature troubled and disquieted him in a way nothing had ever done before.

While they talked they remembered the years of their youth, and each thought of the other as he had been at another time.

A sense of his own identity came upon him with sudden force, and he felt the power of it. He was himself, and he knew what he had been.

she seemed happy, though perhaps a bit desperately so

...Mrs. Bostwick's face was heavy and lethargic, without any strength or delicacy, and it bore the deep marks of what must have been a habitual dissatisfaction.

But William Stoner knew of the world in a way that few of his younger colleagues could understand. Deep in him, beneath his memory, was the knowledge of hardship and hunger and endurance and pain.

I was never that into the movies. Never. Even as a youngster. I became interested in movie music only because of the studio orchestras in Hollywood.

Stop telling people how far they have left to go. Instead tell them how far they’ve come.

I'd love to develop and star in my own children's show, write children's books, do children's albums, movies, DVDs, etc.

I changed jobs like I changed shirts. It was something I just like to do - I like trying my hand at everything.

The chief requirement of the good life, is to live without any image of oneself.

No creature, large or small, ever fails to cover the ground upon which it stands.

If we have isolated individuals able to inflict enormous harm, imagine what a single lunatic can do with a nuclear weapon. I think the whole base of civil society is at risk.

Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.

Candor is the only way I know how to do it. I'm way too old to change. At the end of the day, I believe the truth is stronger than any lie that's out there.

We ourselves are imbued with urgency, yet the message of our society is' that there is no viable alternative to the present.

Spinnin' a rope is fun if your neck ain't in it