All that I have accomplished ... has been by that plodding, patient, persevering process of accretion which builds the ant heap particle by particle, thought by thought, fact by fact.

Forming characters! Whose? Our own or others? Both. And in that momentous fact lies the peril and Responsibility of our existence.

Kindness is the music of Good Will to men, and on this harp the smallest fingers may play heaven's sweetest tunes on earth.

No human being can come into this world without increasing or diminishing the sum total of human happiness.

Amongst the instrumentalities of love and peace, surely there can be no sweeter, softer, more effective voice than that of gentle, peace-breathing music.

Our minds are like certain vehicles,--when they have little to carry they make much noise about it, but when heavily loaded they run quietly.

All that I have accomplished ... has been by that plodding patient persevering process of accretion which builds the ant heap particle by particle thought by thought fact by fact.

One of my favorite modern American authors is Denis Johnson. I'm deeply inspired by all of his work - I rip him off constantly.

Even before the kids are born, you've go to make these decisions. If it's a boy, do we get him circumcised? If it's a girl, do we keep her?

A film causes me so many worries and such a lot of reactions that I have to love it in order to get over it and past it.

The enlightened give thanks for what most people take for granted.

It's like this, dear boy, the one in front is blind and the kind one behind is pushing him.

One of the ego's favorite paths of resistance is to fill you with doubt.

Social climbing and power climbing -- the two are often synonymous -- are what make Washington run. ... If there are more than two people together, if there are three, one of them is climbing.

We need a commander in chief not a professor of law standing at a lectern - the lectern.

I like having people with me to lean on and write with and have fun with.

We ought to define a man's income as the maximum value which he can consume during a week, and still expect to be as well off at the end of the week as he was at the beginning.