My wife and daughter have accused me of being too silent at breakfast but I don't want to talk when I don't have much to say.

The prospect of a long day at the beach makes me panic. There is no harder work I can think of than taking myself off to somewhere pleasant, where I am forced to stay for hours and 'have fun'.

Hedonism can be a rational response to a difficult life.

The essay must be artistically rendered: You must keep the reader engaged, whether with wit, conflict, mischief, and/or yes, with honesty.

Until people see poetry as springing from all of life, they will isolate it in a creativity corner and treat it like a mascot.

Most good essays are conversations with yourself - not just your decided thoughts but your dilemmas.

The trick is to realize that one is not important, except insofar as one’s example can serve to elucidate a more widespread human trait and make readers feel a little less lonely and freakish.

A personal essay often includes some or a lot of personal confession. That makes the reader feel less lonely in their confusion and darkness.

Have fun writing, because it enhances both the writer's and reader's experience.

Confession makes you a more trustworthy narrator.

In new work, we need to see the shadow, however faint, of previous literary effort.

I will design myself a reputation, in which prospects can place their trust, and customers return to and recommend.

You can't be too careful about work. It's the most dangerous habit known to medical science.

The most dangerous thing in the world is the sin of self-reliance and the stupor of worldliness.

Was wirklich zählt, ist Intuition

True love knows no league.

I feel great, I'm happy with my look, and that comes with age and feeling confident.

Video games paid for my house. What am I saying? Go ahead and keep playing!

All power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; [...] magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.

What is important is that one strives to achieve a goal.

Actually I'd had a certain amount of experience in Europe in the inter-war period, as a banker, and I was also a member of the Board of Directors of the International Chamber of Commerce.