[R]eality and real people are too subtle and complicated for anybody's typewriter, even Tolstoy's, even yours, even mine.

A house built on greed cannot long endure.

If it's knowledge and wisdom you want, then seek out the company of those who do real work for an honest purpose.

But of the seven deadly sins, wrath is the healthiest - next only to lust.

And if the computer gives you any back talk, pour some well-sugared office coffee into its evil little silicon brain.

I would not sacrifice a single living mesquite tree for any book ever written. One square mile of living desert is worth a hundred 'great books' - and one brave deed is worth a thousand.

Ah yes, the head is full of books. The hard part is to force them down through the bloodstream and out through the fingers.

Instant communication is not communication at all but merely a frantic, trivial, nerve-wracking bombardment of cliches, threats, fads, fashions, gibberish and advertising.

Not all questions can be answered.

Readers, not critics, are the people who determine a book's eventual fate.

In the land of bleating sheep and braying jackasses, one brave and honest man is bound to create a scandal.

It didn't take much prompting for Cariocas who were sick of living with violence to advocate violence as a solution.

Men and women are not born inconstant: they are made so by their early amorous experiences.

True education is concerned not only with practical goals but also with values. Our aims assure us of our material life, our values make possible our spiritual life.

I don't care how small the parts are, as long as they're good

There are Muslims of all kinds. The idea of closing them into a single identity is wrong.

Texas is rich in unredeemed dreams

Salvation is not putting a man into heaven but putting heaven into a man.

Librarians see themselves as the guardians of the First Amendment. You got a thousand Mother Joneses at the barricades! I love the librarians, and I am grateful for them!

Time is a wealth of change, but the clock in its parody makes it mere change and no wealth.