The thought, when written down, becomes less oppressive, but some thoughts are like a cancerous tumor: you express is, you excise it, and it grows back worse than before.

Knowing you have something good to read before bed is among the most pleasurable of sensations.

And the rest is rust and stardust.

Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.

Mind you, sometimes the angels smoke, hiding it with their sleeves, and when the archangel comes, they throw the cigarettes away: that’s when you get shooting stars.

Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them.

There are aphorisms that, like airplanes, stay up only while they are in motion.

I think it is all a matter of love: the more you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it is.

Loneliness as a situation can be corrected, but as a state of mind it is an incurable illness.

The trick, he supposed, was never to lose sight of the theoretical possibility while not for a moment taking the idea remotely seriously.

It takes a classic to recognize a classic.

Let them know a real man who lives as he was meant to live.

Honest labor bears a lovely face.

Literacy is the door to knowledge, essential to individual self-esteem and empowerment. Books, in all forms, play an essential role here.

I may be Irish, but I'm not stupid.

Every journey toward a dream is personal, and as a result, so is the price that must be paid for it.

If Jesus Christ had run as an independent, Rick Perry would have beat him.

I don’t want to lose my memories. Don’t make me forget. I would rather die as Elena, than live as a shadow.

The natural idealism of youth is an idealism, alas, for which we do not always provide as many outlets as we should.