In solitude a dialogue always arises, because even in solitude there are always two.

It's not necessary to go far and wide. I mean, you can really find exciting and inspiring things within your hometown.

The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.

When evil is allowed to compete with good, evil has an emotional populist appeal that wins out unless good men and women stand as a vanguard against abuse.

Politically, the weakness of the argument has always been that those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil.

This is the precept by which I have lived: Prepare for the worst; expect the best; and take what comes.

The greatest enemy of authority, therefore, is contempt, and the surest way to undermine it is laughter.

One of the greatest advantages of the totalitarian elites of the twenties and thirties was to turn any statement of fact into a question of motive.

There is a strange interdependence between thoughtlessness and evil.

I would like to show the world today as an ant sees it and tomorrow as the moon sees it.

In this world, it's not enough to have a fine education. You need a piece of paper to prove you got it.

It is the spirit of the poets that gives the soldiers strength to fight.

Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means...

We had gone out there to pass the beautiful day of high summer like true Irishmen - locked in the dark Snug of a public house.

As a writer, if you have something on a page, you can start moving it around and get something you like. But if you have a blank page, it's just gonna be a blank page.

I'd rather die while I'm living then live while I'm dead.

I've been writing stories since I was 12. 'Writer's Digest' was one of my writing teachers, actually.

Friends, the soil is poor, we must sow seeds in plenty for us to garner even modest harvests.

The worst part about being married is when you're not connecting. Your partner is going out the door when you're coming in, and you don't have a chance to debrief on the day. That's the worst.

Fix your eyes forward on what you can do, not back on what you cannot change.