I am of the opinion", Tharkay said, "that you ought not assign to free will something more likely the consequence of a sharp blow to the skull.

The river flows to the sea, whatever the wind says about it

You cannot tell a river in which direction it should flow, but you can steer your boat.

Not everybody has a talent for painting, or for the piano, or for dance. But we can write our way into the artist's head and into his problems and solutions. Or we can go there with another writer.

We usually need to have pain, trial or challenge to be motivated to learn or change. Learning in the midst of ease and prosperity comes from the pure inner soul’s inspired desire for improvement.

Patience is real self-mastery.

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.

The flower is the poetry of reproduction. It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.

The foundation of beauty is the body.

Don't drown the man who taught you to swim. If you learned your trade or profession from the man, do not set up in opposition to him.

If you want to be happy, all you have to do is be happy.

This is our home and this is our country. Beneath its soil lie bones of our fathers; for it some of them fought, bled, and died. Here we were born and here we will stay.