An indiscreet man is more hurtful than an ill-natured one; for as the latter will only attack his enemies, and those he wishes ill to, the other injures indifferently both friends and foes.

The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship.

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.

Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.

No one is more cherished in this world than someone who lightens the burden of another. Thank you.

The voice of reason is more to be regarded than the bent of any present inclination; since inclination will at length come over to reason, though we can never force reason to comply with inclination.

Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life.

If every vampire who said he was at The Crucifixion, was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock . . .

Working out the social politics of who you can trust and why is, quite literally, what a very large part of our brain has evolved to do.

And almost everyone when age, disease, or sorrows strike him, inclines to think there is a God, or something very like him.

We have the real self and the false self, there's nothing wrong with them, and everyone has both of them.

As far as I'm concerned, progress peaked with frozen pizza.

The most difficult job is the one that you never get started on.

Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.

For a new year to bring you something new, make a move, like a butterfly tearing its cocoon! Make a move!

You have a winner and a loser and that doesn't bother me, I am man enough to accept that.

Despite all the boosterish talk of globalization breaking down barriers, most writers in Anglo-America are still working within the nationalist assumptions of their traditionally powerful societies.