One thing, however, I must premise, that without the assistance of natural capacity, rules and precepts are of no efficacy.

Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.

We should not speak so that it is possible for the audience to understand us, but so that it is impossible for them to misunderstand us.

We excuse our sloth under the pretext of difficulty.

Write quickly and you will never write well; write well, and you will soon write quickly.

One should aim not at being possible to understand, but at being impossible to misunderstand.

While we are making up our minds as to when we shall begin. the opportunity is lost.

A mediocre speech supported by all the power of delivery will be more impressive than the best speech unaccompanied by such power.

Study depends on the goodwill of the student, a quality that cannot be secured by compulsion.

We must form our minds by reading deep rather than wide.

An evil-speaker differs from an evil-doer only in the want of opportunity.

As a business leader you have to ask yourself, “Am I creating a consumer environment that is conducive to loyalty?” If the answer is no, FIX IT!

If the watchdog doesn't bark, how do you know there's a burglar in the basement? And the press is supposed to be a watchdog.

Do not look down, brooding over your weakness! Do not look back upon your past, strewn with failure! Look up to the living Christ!

The female experience is different from that of the male, and if, as a male writer, you cannot accept that basic premise, then you will never, ever, be able to write women well.

The Dark Backward. Bill Paxton is in it with me. Wayne Newton. James Caan. Adam Rifkin wrote and directed it. It was made a number of years ago and very odd. Not for the squeamish.

But sometimes the future is latent in us without our knowing it, and our supposedly lying words foreshadow an imminent reality.

When you do have really tapped out resources that cover so many investigations, it can help you move through and discard some faster.

As an actor or anybody as a human being, I feel more and more like I want to spend time doing something significant. Because what's the alternative? Spend your life wasting your time.

I think that black fiction authors have to work very hard to avoid being typed as seeking only a black audience.