Chekhov was capable of casually tossing off deplorable comments in his letters, combined with a very modern anger against anti-Semitism.

Every exit is an entry somewhere else.

Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.

If you associate enough with older people who do enjoy their lives, who are not stored away in any golden ghettos, you will gain a sense of continuity and of the possibility for a full life.

Words are sacred. If you get the right ones in the right order you can nudge the world a little.

It's not the voting that's democracy; it's the counting.

A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.

To be an artist at all is like living in Switzerland during a world war. To be an artist in Zurich, in 1917, implies a degree of self-absorption that would have glazed over the eyes of Narcissus.

If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.

Give us this day our daily mask.

Atheism is a crutch for those who cannot bear the reality of God.

Isn't it enough to be middle-aged and impeccably beautiful? Why must one be economically useful?

Do not go gentle into that good night but rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Your neighbors will be envious of your 3D printer - and if they're not, just print new neighbors. Design them so they'll like to bring you pies, maybe, or want to do your yard work for you.

Audiences always sound like they're glad to see me, and I'm damned glad to see them.

The fiercest serpent may be overcome by a swarm of ants.

The paradox of acceptance: When our mind becomes less attached and dependent on things being a certain way our happiness in life dramatically improves.

The epitaph that I would write for history would say: I conceal nothing. It is not enough not to lie. One should strive not to lie in a negative sense by remaining silent.

Life is one big minefield, and the only place that isn't a minefield is the place they make the mines.

This is a lovely party," said the Bursar to a chair, "I wish I was here.

I always hustled to make money and pay for school. I was never afraid of hard work.