Bashfulness may sometimes exclude pleasure, but seldom opens any avenue to sorrow or remorse.

Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.

A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

Innocence invites protection, yet we might be smarter to protect ourselves against it...

I'm a guy. Unless the dirt attacks first, I leave it in peace.

For the most part, I don't like people who soapbox.

But yeah, I played bass guitar in high school and in college and then I actually fractured my thumb, so my bass career went bye-bye.

Difficulties increase the nearer we get to the goal.

One way you can get really close to God is to sin as hard as you can.

The novel is a highly corrupt medium, after all - in the end the vast majority of them simply aren't that great, and are destined to be forgotten.

Movies, over time, as they do or don't find their audience, or they find a different audience, they change in your memory and in the eyes of those who see it.

You have to be around people you trust; otherwise you can't do anything - you're afraid, you're paranoid, and you can't do any work.

You need never fear feeling too good about God.