I had let my digust with teaching ruin my love of literature.

The simple act of opening a bottle of wine has brought more happiness to the human race than all the collective governments in the history of earth

Barring love I'll take my life in large doses alone--rivers, forests, fish, grouse, mountains. Dogs.

The wilderness does not make you forget your normal life so much as it removes the distractions for proper remembering.

The danger of civilization, of course, is that you will piss away your life on nonsense.

Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness and they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy, or they become legends.

In a life properly lived, you're a river.

Beware, O wanderer, the road is walking too.

Death steals everything except our stories.

Fishing makes us less the hostages to the horrors of making a living.

I would rather give full vent to all human loves and disappointments, and take a chance on being corny, than die a smartass.

Men want to be known and loved for who they are by women.

Do not try to prove that you are the most important person or that you are the lord’s anointed

Yesterday they called it coincidence. Today it's synchronicity. Tomorrow they'll call it skill.

I cant control everything, and I dont need to

On my visits back home, if they saw that I was getting a big head, they'd let me know right away.

The purpose of art is to re-present nature, not represent it.

A child is owed the greatest respect; if you have ever have something disgraceful in mind, don't ignore your son's tender years.

Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home

This contract is so one-sided that I am astonished to find it written on both sides of the paper.

To be sick and helpless is a humiliating experience. Prolonged illness also carries the hazard of narcissistic self-absorption.