All censure of a man's self is oblique praise.

No, Sir, claret is the liquor for boys; port for men: but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy. In the first place brandy will do soonest for a man what drinking can do for him.

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.

I have discovered that we may be in some degree whatever character we choose. Besides, practice forms a man to anything.

My father had declared a predilection for heirs general, that is, males and females indiscriminately.... I, on the other hand, had a zealous partiality for heirs male, however remote.

I, who have no sisters or brothers, look with some degree of innocent envy on those who may be said to be born to friends.

When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarizations.

Quotation is more universal and more ancient than one would perhaps believe.

The pleasure of gratifying whim is very great. It is known only by those who are whimsical.

Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.

It is not every man who can be exquisitely miserable, any more than exquisitely happy.

Language fits over experience like a straight-jacket.

When I moved to the East Village in the late seventies, I wanted to be a street performer, so I practiced daily. I never did work up the skills or the courage to perform on the street, though.

You guys should know we do [ cover Obamacare, and ISIS, and radical Islamic terrorism] because you watch CNN all day long.

I think of myself as kind of a hippy. Everyone around me says that's not the impression they get. They think I'm sassy. Apparently, I think I'm nicer than I really am.

... if you have nothing, you are free to choose among dreams and fantasies.

When confronted with a clear definition of what it is to be Mexican, we encounter ourselves in a never ending allegory of mixes and chaos.

One's thoughts turn towards Hope.

In itself a thought, a slumbering thought is capable of years; and curdles a long life into one hour.

The cross is bigger than your mistakes, bigger than your regrets, bigger than the secrets you hold. The cross stands above it all.

There are two kinds of brave men: those who are brave by the grace of nature, and those who are brave by an act of will.