Reversing a proposition rearranges its terms, but still keeps out new terms.

Pain narrows consciousness; pleasure blurs it.

When Medusa looks in the mirror, she sees the Lady of Sorrows.

My passions have never jumped out of the fireplace and set fire to the carpet.

Retirement requires the invention of a new hedonism, not a return to the hedonism of youth

The sewing machine joins what the scissors have cut asunder, plus whatever else comes in its path.

Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.

The laughter of the aphorism is sometimes triumphant, but seldom carefree.

'Be faithful to your roots' is the liberal version of 'Stay in your ghetto.'

Every day begins with an act of courage and hope: getting out of bed.

Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris.

It's not easy in this phosphorescent gloom telling waking dreams apart anyhow.

NOEL: You can get excited about the future. The past won't mind.

If you have no competition there's no need to debate.

The problem with being clever, Serene thought with a sigh, is that everyone assumes you're always planning something.

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

It is impossible to get the measure of what an individual can accomplish unless the responsibility is given him.

Women can have all the evidence but they still want the confession.

I think that, by comparison with $2,000 bottles of grand cru Burgundies, first-rate barolos, which sell for under $100, are undervalued ten-fold.

At Rochester, I came with the same emotions as many of the entering freshman: everything was new, exciting and a bit overwhelming, but at least nobody had heard of my brothers and cousins.

The line between education and brainwashing is paper thin