Books do not make life easier or more simple, but harder and more interesting.

The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.

The conservatives nearly always tolerate the demagogue while he is destroying liberals.

A tablecloth restaurant is still one of the great rewards of civilization.

I remember how often some of us walked out of the darkness of the Lower East Side and into the brilliant sunlight of Washington Square.

No man does right by a woman at a party.

If the roof caves in and the tenants are sitting in the debris, they will laugh like hell. They will endure any hardship as long as it means trouble for the landlord.

What is the best way to write? Each of us has to discover her own way by writing. Writing teaches writing. No one can tell you your own secret.

Specifically, the part where in the early 19th century America reconstituted the U.S. Marine Corps to battle the Islamic Barbary Pirates, though I don't think that's what Obama meant.

It struck me that distant cities are designed precisely so you can know where you came from.

I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.

For me, when I watch something without music, I'm instantly thinking, "Okay, what am I going to do here? How am I going to convey this?" I take notes and really think about that.

Irish women are always carrying water on their heads, and always carrying their husbands home from pubs. Such things are the greatest posture-builders in the world.

We refuse to dismiss the experts, we listen to them ... they all agree that Britain is better off in, you are better off in.

Most of the Palestinians don't understand what they're doing... Politically, people can say what they want. The problem is not political, but religious.

I feel my life has more meaning because I am responsible for another life, although I don't have control over what Lucian - my son - is going to do. He's definitely going to carve his own way.

There is nothing like writing to force you to think and get your thoughts straight.