The preface is the most important part of a book. Even reviewers read a preface.

The work of Henry James has always seemed divisible by a simple dynastic arrangement into three reigns: James I, James II, and the Old Pretender

Greatness is so often a courteous synonym for great success.

Any stigma, as the old saying is, will serve to beat a dogma.

History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other.

Success is little more than a chemical compound of man with moment.

The detective story is the normal recreation of noble minds.

People who jump to conclusions rarely alight on them.

Autobiography is an unrivaled vehicle for telling the truth about other people.

Biography is a very definite region bounded on the north by history, on the south by fiction, on the east by obituary, and on the west by tedium.

The Crimean War is one of the bad jokes of history.

Take control from the moment you step in her place. She'll be pleasantly surprised and impressed.

Ultimately, so much Dr. Seuss is about empowerment. He invites us to disappear into our imagination and then blows the doors off what that can mean.

For a change, lady luck seemed to be smiling on me. Then again, maybe the fickle wench was just lulling me into a false sense of security while she reached for a rock.

That which you manifest is before you. The visible becomes inevitable. Your car goes where your eyes go.

You’re really cute, Midori,” I corrected myself. “What do you mean really cute?” “So cute the mountains crumble and the oceans dry up.

The ground is no place for a champion. The ground is no place that I will wallow on.

Art imitates Nature in this; not to dare is to dwindle.

Subconsciously, Islam took over me so it was like eighty or ninety percent of the fabric of the person I was.

Flight is romance - not in the sense of sexual attraction, but as an experience that enriches life.

I first saw Dead Man in high school, and it changed everything. That movie was like a memory to me - I would get things that occurred in that movie confused with my actual life.