But I did not find any positive inspiration in my studies until I approached my nineteenth year.

I encountered among my comrades the most varied human traits, from frankness to reserve, from goodness, uprightness and kindness, to brutality and baseness.

The person upon whom the schoolboys' attention centred was, of course, the Headmaster.

A love for humanity came over me, and watered and fertilised the fields of my inner world which had been lying fallow, and this love of humanity vented itself in a vast compassion.

Poor is the power of the lead that becomes bullets compared to the power of the hot metal that becomes types.

I did not know what it was to be happy for a whole day at a time, scarcely for an hour.

Among the delights of Summer were picnics to the woods.

He who does not understand a joke, he does not understand Danish.

The Danish glee: the national version of cheerfulness.

I was not given to looking at life in a rosy light.

Being gifted needs courage.

Michael had learned the hard way that nothing good came from interfering in the affairs of the afterlife.

I think I'm pretty smart on what I spend my money on. I still don't have a new car, I drive my old car that I've had forever. But I bought a house in downtown Chicago.

Short stories consume you faster. They're connected to brevity. With the short story, you are up against mortality. I know how tough they are as a form, but they're also a total joy.

Lies are not rooted in the mind in the way truth is.

I don't believe in villains - just people who channel their energy in the wrong way.

I officially designated every US ambassador on earth to be my personal human rights representative, and to have the embassy be a haven for people who suffered from abuse by their own government.

I see a guy getting old. I try to not look in the mirror too much.

It turns out that all life is interconnected with all other life.

I hate the idea that you ought to read the whole of anybody.

A single year's performance is of minor importance and, good or bad, should never be taken seriously.