I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter.

I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.

Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today because if you enjoy it today, you can do it again tomorrow.

The really great writers are people like Emily Brontë who sit in a room and write out of their limited experience and unlimited imagination.

Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them.

I have never thought of myself as a good writer. Anyone who wants reassurance of that should read one of my first drafts. But I'm one of the world's great rewriters.

If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home.

If your book doesn't keep you up nights when you are writing it, it won't keep anyone up nights reading it.

An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.

The permanent temptation of life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat of life comes when dreams are surrendered to reality.

The night is the blink of a day

Though I love my country I do not love my countrymen.

Curiosity is a delicate little plant that, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom.

A low morality will not sustain leadership long, its influence quickly vanishes, it cannot produce its own succession.

When I get in the sun I get very tanned. You can't tell me from the native fishermen in Hawaii or Mexico.

We make the oldest stories new when we succeed, and we are trapped by the old stories when we fail

Take a look at the number of Bibles on your shelf. Think how grateful you are for the help you've received from various Bible translations and editions over the years.

Less money for public media means less access to the arts.

It is lawful to be taught by an enemy. Fas est ab hoste doceri.

I have always regarded the development of the individual as the only legitimate goal of education.