A solemn funeral is inconceivable to the Chinese mind.

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.

Happiness has always seemed like a bluebird, and consists of moments.

A man who has to be punctually at a certain place at five o'clock has the whole afternoon ruined for him already.

Those who are wise won't be busy, and those who are too busy can't be wise.

When Small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.

Neckties strangle clear thinking.

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.

There is so much to love and to admire in this life that it is an act of ingratitude not to be happy and content in this existence.

I have a hankering to go back to the Orient and discard my necktie. Neckties strangle clear thinking.

The question remains... who takes care of you, Miss Vale?" "I might ask the same question of you, Lord Dryden.

If you don't want somwone to change your life for you, you've got to change it yourself. (Vanishing Acts, pg. 339)

I write longhand on legal pads, about half at home and half in cafes. I drink a lot of water and eat a lot of raw carrots.

I'm called the Godfather [of Ecstacy] because I published for the first time information about its effects in man. I feel content with the title. MDMA is a beautiful drug.

The 20-minute walk I take is better than the 3-mile run I never start. Having people over for take-out is better than never having people to an elegant dinner party.

I wouldn't be able to do anything with my vampire horde except make it run around in a herd, but it would be a very impressive herd.

No one wants to be part of a fiction, and even less so if that fiction is real.

Creativity means loving whatsoever you do - enjoying, celebrating it, as a gift of God!

I don't do much of anything consciously in writing - in poetry writing, anyway, prose usually being a different matter, of course.

Puritans should wear fig leaves on their eyes.