To explicate the uses of the Brain seems as difficult a task as to paint the Soul, of which it is commonly said, that it understands all things but itself.

Sometimes a great wound or concussion of the head, especially which happens by falling headlong from an high place, brings a prejudice and weakness to the animal faculty, dulling the understanding

Diabetes is caused by melancholy.

I beg my Children to be just and virtuous, never to disgrace my name or theirs, and then they are out of fortune's power

Those who are born of parents broken with old age, or of such as are not yet ripe or are too young, or of drunkards, soft or effeminate men, want a great and liberal ingenuity or wit.

The apparent is never the real.

I was so alone that every day was like eating my own heart.

We are all a part of every person we have ever met.

The truth is that if Israel were to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put down their arms there would be no more war.

When in times of turmoil and breakup, do not cut or shave your head, because it will never end well.

Every adult needs a child to teach; it’s the way adults learn.

My uncle Jimmy took liver salts twice a day for 40 years. He died on Sunday, was buried Wednesday and the following Friday they had to go to the cemetery to beat his liver to death with a stick.

You don't have the same reaction to a girl walking around the street today in a nightgown and a vintage coat and sneakers, that you did six years ago.

There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil.

I'm a well-intentioned plotter who ends up with wondrous pantsing revelations and (at times) ginormous rewrites that look almost nothing like my carefully plotted plans.