Come what will, one comfort's always left — that unfailing comfort is, it's all predestinated.

I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.

Ignorance is the parent of fear.

Human madness is oftentimes a cunning and most feline thing. When you think it fled, it may have but become transfigured into some still subtler form.

Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunk Christian.

[T]hen all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago.

The classification of the constituents of a chaos, nothing less is here essayed.

Savage though he was, and hideously marred about the face-at least to my taste-his countenance yet had a something in it which was by no means disagreeable. You cannot hide the soul.

[T]here is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.

Ahab and aguish lay stretched together in one hammock.

... an utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward.

Creativity and expression of one’s art can only be measured by the audience to whom it was intended for.  Not everyone is going to like my “art” and I don’t really care about that.

A civil tongue speaks the language of masters. An uncivil tongue reveals character flaws of its master.

Zen probably won’t solve a single one of our problems. What it might do is help us relate differently to what we consider problems.

There are two distinct groups of people in the world: the ones who tell stories, and those who pay attention.

He has always admired writers who each day begin a journey towards the unknown and who nevertheless spend all their time sitting in a room".

I could start a war in 30 seconds. But some countries spend 100 years trying to find peace. Just like good manners, peace has to be learned.

The work gets more difficult as you get older. You learn more and you gather more experiences, there is deeper pain and higher highs.

I have supported my deviations with reasons; I did not stop at mere doubt; I have vanquished, I have uprooted, I have destroyed everything in my heart that might have interfered with my pleasure.

I see the things and people and events in my daily world as an endless succession of paintings.

Redemption is never where you expect to find it.