Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.

There is a tragic flaw in our precious constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.

He didn't look like a soldier at all. He looked like a filthy flamingo.

Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.

Perhaps I am the turtle, able to live simply anywhere, even underwater for short periods, with my home on my back.

About astrology and palmistry: they are good because they make people vivid and full of possibilities. They are communism at its best. Everybody has a birthday and almost everybody has a palm.

We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

It was easy enough to kill yourself in a fit of despair. It was easy enough to play the martyr. It was harder to do nothing. To endure your life. To wait.

People wish to learn to swim and at the same time to keep one foot on the ground.

Go into the auto mechanic, youve got to know computers to be able to work on the cars.

When the mind, body, and spirit work together, I believe anything is possible.

You can teach to a wall, but when you help someone learn, you have to get involved with the whole person.

All my friends who wanted to write had got nowhere trying to write the great European novel. So I deliberately steered clear of that and set out to write something story-led.

I have been a Professor Emeritus since 1958, and have continued my scientific studies.

. . . all that she had had, and all that she had missed, were lost together, and were twice lost in this landslide of remembered losses.

I can't think of anything I would do differently in my life. It would be nice to undo some of my mistakes I made over the years, but then I wouldn't have grown professionally or personally.

Discover this mystery: as you help others face their days, you put life into your own. And life is exactly what many people need.