[Ilse] was suffering so keenly that she wanted to arraign the universe at the bar of her pain.

There isn't any such thing as an ordinary life. (92)

Nobody with any real sense of humor *can* write a love story. . . . Shakespeare is the exception that proves the rule. (90-91)

My pen shall heal, not hurt.

Don't try to write anything you can't feel - it will be a failure - 'echoes nothing worth

Fear is a vile thing, and is at the bottom of almost every wrong and hatred of the world.

Satirize wickedness if you must--but pity weakness.

No one can be free who has a thousand ancestors.

I have made up my mind that I will never marry. I shall be wedded to my art.

Lovely thoughts came flying to meet me like birds. They weren't my thoughts. I couldn't think anything half so exquisite. They came from somewhere.

He was so lonely that he laughed at himself.

Common sense has become an uncommon virtue.

Historically, when a previous US administration enters into an agreement, it carries forward into the future administration.

We need to have people up there who can communicate what it feels like, not just pilots and engineers.

[Autobiographies] are all the same - it's always rags-to-riches or I-slept-with-so-and-so. Damned if I'm going to say that.

There's something that's so basically corrupt about any system in which a good and fair profit is not enough. There has to be more, every year, every quarter, because your stock price has to rise.

Don't ask permission. If it does not work, you can apologize later.

Align your personality with your purpose, and no one can touch you.

Today I dialed a wrong number... The other person said, "Hello?" and I said, "Hello, could I speak to Joey?"... They said, "Uh... I don't think so... he's only 2 months old." I said, "I'll wait."

If the Tiber rises too high, or the Nile too low, the remedy is always feeding Christians to the lions.

Whatever the problem - be part of the solution