A forbidden writing is thought to be a certain spark of truth, that flies up in the face of them who seek to tread it out.

It is impossible to love and to be wise.

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.

Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake.

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.

All rising to great places is by a winding stair.

It's not what we profess but what we practice that gives us integrity.

Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.

There is a difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man is really so; but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.

Life is a marshmallow, easy to chew but hard to swallow.

I do not believe that I should only write about what I know but that I should write also of the other.

The person who knows his calling will find opportunities everywhere

lessons of medicrity, to a great extent, produce students of mediocrity

Is there anything more frightening than people?

Despite popular belief, hitting someone with a closed fist actually hurts the hitter almost as much as the hittee.

Once you've been first, it cannot be done again. Not by you, not by anyone else.

Nobody ever became a writer just by wanting to be one.

Basically my influences have been American influences. It's been blues, gospel, swing era music, bebop music, Broadway show music, classical music.

as a society emphasizes and values some aspects of the total range of human potentials more than others, the valued aspects are associated closely with, and limited to, the dominant group's domain.

There is a time when a man distinguishes the idea of felicity from the idea of wealth; it is the beginning of wisdom.