It is easy enough to say that poverty is no crime. No; if it were men wouldn't be ashamed of it. It is a blunder, though, and is punished as such. A poor man is despised the whole world over.

It is always the best policy to speak the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.

I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.

People who have tried it, tell me that a clear conscience makes you very happy and contented; but a full stomach does the business quite as well, and is cheaper, and more easily obtained.

A good woman's arms round a man's neck is a lifebelt thrown out to him from heaven.

Opportunities flit by while we sit regretting the chances we have lost, and the happiness that comes to us we heed not, because of the happiness that is gone.

Love is like the measles; we all have to go through it.

They [dogs] never talk about themselves but listen to you while you talk about yourself, and keep up an appearance of being interested in the conversation.

What I am looking for is a blessing not in disguise.

It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.

If there is one person I do despise more than another, it is the man who does not think exactly the same on all topics as I do.

We do not have a money problem in America. We have a values and priorities problem.

Catastrophe and creation are twins.

I always think it's not what we know that's terrifying; it's what we don't know. That's sort of pervasive with everything in life.

It is not great talents or great learning or great preachers that God needs, but men great in holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for God.

Read a lot. Read broadly... Tell stories to your friends, and pay attention to when they get bored... Write a lot.

Our estimates are that none of them will come out alive unless they surrender to us quickly.

I look into my heart and see the abyss looking back at me.' 'I won't let you fall.

My responsibility as an artist is to turn up at the page or the piano or the microphone. The rest is up to God.

I agree with Bill Clinton that US forces should not be sent to Haiti, but not for his reasons.

"Wait and see" is no easier now than it was as a child.