Age is a clever thief. It takes a little from you each day, so you're not aware of your loss until it'd irreversible.

There's nothing like rejection to make you do an inventory of yourself.

I used to save all my rejection slips because I told myself, one day I'm going to autograph these and auction them. And then I lost the box.

If there is any human tragedy, there is only one, and it occurs when we forget who we are and remain silent while a stranger takes up residence inside our skin.

The system shaves the dice on the side of those with money and power, and anyone who believes otherwise deserves anything that happens to him.

You do it a day at a time. You write as well as you can, you put it in the mail, you leave it under submission, you never leave it at home.

And like most middle-aged people who hear the clock ticking in their lives, I had come to resent a waste or theft of my time that was greater than any theft of my goods or money.

How do you explain to yourself the casual manner in which you threw your life away?

...and I wonder if there is any way to adequately describe the folly that causes us to undo all the great gifts of both Earth and Heaven.

When you find the right people, you never let go. The people who count are the ones who are your friends in lean times. You have all the friends you want when things are going well.

That's one of the great advantages of age. You can say, I don't want to, I don't care, you can throw temper tantrums, and nobody minds.

What matters is not the facts but how you discover and think about them.

He uses the nice old words so rich in tradition to be sure I know he means it.

Loneliness is about the scariest thing out there.

The butterfly counts not months but moments And has time enough.

There needs a long time to know the worlds pulse.

I don't think you can run for president or be president unless you're a busy person.

You say into my cracks and I saw into yours.

Songs are funny things. They can slip across borders. Proliferate in prisons. Penetrate hard shells. I always believed that the right song at the right moment could change history.

You're better equipped for this world than I am," she said. "I'm always trying to change the world. You know how to live in it.

If you want to put a price on carbon why not just do it with a simple tax?