... She knew in her heart that to be without optimism, that core of reasonless hope in the spirit rather than the brain, was a fatal flaw, the seed of death.

The men who cannot laugh at themselves frighten me even more than those who laugh at everything.

People only tell lies when the truth is disagreeable to them, or frightens them, or to cover sin.

To take for granted one's blessings is a damage to the soul, and in time one will lose them, simply from lack of care. One should never tire of nourishing and treasuring all that is lovely.

Maybe right and wrong did not move, but understanding of them did. The wrenching pain of walking the same path, even for a short space, tore away the willingness to judge.

A good library can provide the furniture of our minds and the threads from which we weave our dreams.

We all try to forget what hurts us, it is sometimes the only way we can continue.

You start at the end, and then go back and write and go that way. Not everyone does, but I do. Some people just sit down at the page and start off. I start from what happened, including the why.

The truth can be very sharp. But it makes a cleaner wound than lies. It will not fester

We believe world peace is inevitable.

I wonder how often in the past I may have missed the good in people because I pre-judged, based on the differences?

To some people, employment is a distraction. To all entertainers, distraction is employment.

Sweet words are like honey a little may refresh but too much gluts the stomach.

He dares to be a fool, and that is the first step in the direction of wisdom.

I have lost and loved and won and cried myself to the person I am today.

I wanted to be an oceanographer, actually. It's a way of going underwater. I've always been interested in how deep it was, you know.

If the soul has food for study and learning, nothing is more delightful than an old age of leisure.

First catch your Boer, then kick him.

There is nothing sooner overthrows a weak head than opinion by authority, like too strong a liquor for a frail glass.

No human being can prevent you from giving. Because no human being controls God’s agenda.

College is a secluded life of scholastic vegetation