Jane Austen can in fact get more drama out of morality than most other writers can get from shipwreck, battle, murder, or mayhem.

The ordinariness of living to be old is too novel a thing to appreciate.

I sometimes think that God will ask us, 'That wonderful world of mine, why didn't you enjoy it more?

As for the British churchman, he goes to church as he goes to the bathroom, with the minimum of fuss and no explanation if he can help it.

Old age is - a lot of crossed off names in an address book.

To be old is to be part of a huge and ordinary multitude... the reason why old age was venerated in the past was because it was extraordinary.

Acceptance of death when it arrives is one thing, but to allow it to upstage the joys of living is ingratitude.

One of the reasons why old people make so many journeys into the past is to satisfy themselves that it is still there.

I am moving as one with the universe.

I want to study marriage. I want to learn about it. I want to know it. I want to figure out whether or not I want to do it. I'm not just going to leap into it, because that's not good for anybody.

The body must be perfection before the will is a functioning unit

I think one reason my books have found mainstream success is that they're written from a skeptical point of view.

If it was a sin for you to choose me . . . then I would go to the Devil himself and bless him for tempting ye to it.

Instead of trying to manufacture feelings, use the way you already feel. Or at least add that in.

I've been half-frozen for so long, it is as though the winter has set up home in my marrow.

It is not always sorrow that opens the fountains of the eyes.

When a felon s not engaged in his employment, Or maturing his felonious little plans, His capacity for innocent enjoyment Is just as great as any honest mans.

Why do economists fall in love with authoritarian governments?