Remembrance is the only paradise out of which we cannot be driven away.

The usual designation of the magnitude scale to my name does less than justice to the great part that Dr. Gutenberg played in extending the scale to apply to earthquakes in all parts of the world.

Nothing is less predictable than the development of an active scientific field.

Don't wait for extraordinary circumstance to do good; try to use ordinary situations.

As seismologists gained more experience from earthquake records, it became obvious that the problem could not be reduced to a single peak acceleration. In fact, a full frequency of vibrations occurs.

Only fools, liars, and charlatans predict earthquakes

The rose does not bloom without thorns. True, but would that the thorns did not outlive the rose.

Spring makes everything young again except man.

Refining is inevitable in science when you have made measurements of a phenomenon for a long period of time.

I was lucky because logarithmic plots are a device of the devil.

If one introduces the concept of energy of an earthquake then that is a theoretically derived quantity.

With all honesty, somewhere between the hello and the dreams I saw you in I fell in love.

Life must not be lived only to make money.

How one responds in these dire circumstances says a lot about one's faith and the strength of one's beliefs.

Why does it have to be like this?' I asked bitterly. 'Why does life have to be so short, with all the good things passing quickly. Is it worth living at all?

Sometimes you can write a great scene, but when you're actually in a situation and it doesn't work, you have to be flexible enough to make it work for you.

What's the function of poetry? It's to express general truths, to connect with the reader and make him think: 'Wow, I've experienced that, but you've expressed it so much better.'

A man without a heroic bent starts dying at the age of thirty.

The dog is a yes-animal. Very popular with people who can't afford a yes man.

Nashville is my home, and the reason why I get to do what I love.