But man by his nature is an unnatural animal. If any creature stands a chance of defeating death, it is man.

On their sofas of spice and feathers, the concubines also slept fretfully. In those days the Earth was still flat, and people dreamed often of falling over edges.

Never underestimate how much assistance, how much satisfaction, how much comfort, how much soul and transcendence there might be in a well-made taco and a cold bottle of beer.

You knows dat in New Orleans is not morning 'til dee sun come up.

Birth and death were easy. It was life that was hard.

Death is impatient and thoughtless. It barges into your room when you are right in the middle of something, and it doesn't bother to wipe its boots.

She continued weeping until the heat of her tear water, the sheer velocity of its flow, finally obscured the already vague circumstances of its origins.

salvation is for the feeble, that's what I think. I don't want salvation, I want life, all of life, the miserable as well as the superb.

There is a comfort in conformity, a security in control, that is appealing. There is a thrill in domination, and we are all secretly attracted to violence.

All dreams continue in the beyond.

If you want your tree to produce plenty o' fruit, you've got to cut it back from time to time. Same thing with your neural cells. Some people might call it brain damage. I call it prunin'.

Because I was more often happy for other people, I got to spend more time being happy. And as I saw more light in everybody else, I seemed to have more myself. (250)

The cruellest lies are often told in silence.

biography is essentially a collaborative art, the latest biographer collaborating with all those who wrote earlier.

My friends tell me I have an intimacy problem. But they don't really know me.

If we do not abolish war on this earth, then surely one day war will abolish us from the earth.

Life is to be lived through action not by dreaming.

Our mission is to organize the world's information. Clearly, the more information we have when we do a search, the better it's going to work.

I don't know anything about science.

One wonders what would happen in a society in which there were no rules to break. Doubtless everyone would quickly die of boredom.

If dying, I yet live in a tender heart or two; nor am I lost and hopeless living, if a sainted departed soul still loves and prays for me.