All language begins with speech, and the speech of common men at that, but when it develops to the point of becoming a literary medium it only looks like speech.

When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it stays split.

Down these mean streets a man must go who is neither tarnished nor afraid

He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.

Some are able and humane men and some are low-grade individuals with the morals of a goat, the artistic integrity of a slot machine, and the manners of a floorwalker with delusions of grandeur.

It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.

There are two kinds of truth; The truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The fist of these is science and the second is art.

It seemed like a nice neighborhood to have bad habits in.

The challenge of screenwriting is to say much in little and then take half of that little out and still preserve an effect of leisure and natural movement

At least half the mystery novels published violate the law that the solution, once revealed, must seem to be inevitable.

Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency.

In life we can never really value peace unless we experience war.

Real love ought to be more like a tree and less like a flower.

Being pregnant is a very boring six months. I am not particularly maternal. It's an occupational hazard of being a wife.

Acceptance and tolerance and forgiveness, those are life-altering lessons.

A man doesn't need brilliance or genius, all he needs is energy.

In democracy everyone has the right to be represented, even the jerks.

I've proposed reforms on taxes, regulations, and trade that will all have the effect of keeping jobs and wealth in America for our workers - and dramatically boosting incomes.

We don't know much about the human conscience, except that it is soluble in alcohol.

People also don't understand how young the Panthers were - basically teenagers. And that they were over 50 percent women.

Your love is the oil in my lamp of life. Your body the wick that burns casting a blanket of comfort over me as the darkness closes in....I love you