A young mark twain on the make: "I can't turn in inkstand into Aladdin's lamp.

He (the immigrant father) would walk by proxy in the Elysian fields of liberal learning.

The nature of revolutions is to sweep the reluctant along.

A live-in domestic worker: "You are never sure that your soul is your own except when you are out of the house.

This senate was a place where good Representatives went when they died. Thomas Reed

The horizons of man are incomparably narrower than that of the land on which he toils. Editor of the Nebraska journal

I believe the road to preeminent success in any line is to make yourself master IN THAT LINE. I have no faith in the policy of scattering one's resources. Andrew Carnegie

Both sides had more confidence in their opponents' weaknesses than their own strength.

Once information slipped the bonds of gravity and friction, it tended to gather where it was most valuable.

Cities force growth and make men talkative and entertaining, but they make them artificial. Ralph Waldo Emerson

It may be that the voice of the people is the voice of God 51 times out of 100. But the remaining 49 times, it is the voice of the devil, or worse, the voice of a fool. Theodore Roosevelt

Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.

All that a man does outwardly is but the expression and completion of his inward thought. To work effectively he must think clearly to act nobly he must think nobly.

The first part of my career, how I was paying the bills was commercials. I was just doing tons of commercials.

... we can bear with great philosophy the sufferings of others, especially if we do not actually see them.

They'd rather see me fail than succeed, That's why I'm alone on my own with no team. Don't need no green, though I got some to spend; In the end...all I really need is a friend.

I'm not sure what the proper label might be, or the most accurate one, but someone once called my stuff Southern Ohio Gothic and I thought that was fair.

You've committed no sins, just mistakes.

Based on my own personal experience – both as an investor in recent years and an expert witness in years past – rarely do more than three or four variables really count. Everything else is noise.

One should use great care to select an employer who will be an inspiration, and who is, himself, intelligent and successful

There isn't a difference between how I feel in the world and how I feel as a musician, or someone who writes. They are one in the same. It's just a different presentation.