A writer’s brain is like a magician’s hat. If you’re going to get anything out of it, you have to put something in it first

You can't fight the desert... you have to ride with it.

When I die, remember that what you knew of me is with you always. What is buried is only the shell of what was. Do not regret the shell, but remember the man. Remember the father.

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.

Knowledge is like money: To be of value it must circulate, and in circulating it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value.

Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.

There are good men everywhere. I only wish they had louder voices.

The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast, and you miss all you are traveling for.

Only one who has learned much can fully appreciate his ignorance.

Long ago I learned nothing gets done by just wishing it. You have to do it.

There is nothing more dangerous than a woman with a shotgun. Because you don't know when it's going to go off...and neither does she.

Is there never any escaping the junkshop of the self?

Failure is a word unknown to me.

After my election there was talk of a postracial America. And such a vision, however well intended, was never realistic.

Capitalism: Nothing so mean could be right. Greed is the ugliest of the capital sins.

I love the '70s, I'm very into that right now. The long Chloe dresses, very Virgin Suicides.

Saying nothing... sometimes says the most.

The convoluted wording of legalisms grew up around the necessity to hide from ourselves the violence we do to each other.

It is an attention-getter. I mean, its hard to ignore a woman lugging a cello around.

I know," she said. "You have a stone in your heart, and some days it's so heavy there is nothing to be done. But you don't have to be alone for it. You should have come to me. I understand.

They who have light in themselves will not revolve as satellites.