In order to be cruel we have to close our hearts to the suffering of the other.

(I)f we are going to be kind, let it be out of simple generosity, not because we fear guilt or retribution.

The writers who have the deepest influence on one are those one reads in ones more impressionable, early life, and often it is the more youthful works of those writers that leave the deepest imprint.

When all else fails, philosophize.

We must cultivate, all of us, a certain ignorance, a certain blindness, or society will not be tolerable.

I know somewhat too much; and from this knowledge, once one has been infected, there seems to be no recovering.

All creatures come into the world bringing with them the memory of justice.

But he cannot see a connection between the end of yearning and the end of poetry. Is that what growing up amounts to: growing out of yearning, of passion, of all intensities of the soul?

I don't think we are ready to die, any of us, not without being escorted.

A book should be an axe to chop open the frozen sea inside us.

Become major, Paul. Live like a hero. That's what the classics teach us. Be a main character. Otherwise what is life for?

People forget history nowadays, he lamented, that is what the ego does, making one the prisoner of one's inflated present, ignoring the humble past one has lived.

Choose to long for love, to live in love, and to be the love so that you can achieve higher consciousness.

Count blessings and discover Who can be counted on.

We are not so easily guided by our most prominent weaknesses as by those of which we are least aware.

When everything is worth money, then money is worth nothing.

If Satch (Paige) and I were pitching on the same team, we would clinch the pennant by July fourth and go fishing until World Series time.

But what can a decent man speak of with most pleasure? Answer: Of himself. Well, so I will talk about myself.

I think England will win a Test. My concern is Australia will probably win two.

A library is also a place where love begins.

The main thing that motivates me is laughter, and colors, and music, and dancing! And I do all of the above every day.