But how awful would that be? How terrible to live surrounded by the stark, sharp, hollowness of things that simply were enough?

When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.

Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.

I have, of course, been called many other things. Most of them uncouth, although very few were unearned

The world is a mess and I just need to rule it.

Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.

It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.

It was wise enough to know itself, and brave enough to be itself, and wild enough to change itself while somehow staying altogether true.

If I seem to wander, if I seem to stray, remember that true stories seldom take the straightest way

There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.

Do not mistake me for my mask. You see light dappling on the water and forget the deep, cold dark beneath.

She’s all the blood I’ve ever shed. She’s every time I’ve ever thought of death. She’s every time I’ve ever looked at happiness and thought, ‘That’s not meant for me.

Greatness comes with patience.

Let your work show off for you and not your ego.

Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts.

The end does not justify the means. No one's rights can be secured by the violation of the rights of others.

Teach your child to hold his tongue; he'll learn fast enough to speak.

I'm kind of more on the conservative side.

I reserve the right to tell shaggy dog stories or even common jokes as part of what I'm doing. I don't give a damn if half the audience walks out.

The destiny of any nation at any given time depends on the opinion of its young people, those under twenty-five.

We are usually undone by our lack of understanding of ourselves.