Every writing career starts as a personal quest for sainthood, for self-betterment. Sooner or later, and as a rule quite soon, a man discovers that his pen accomplishes a lot more than his soul.

Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family.

What I like about cities is that everything is king size, the beauty and the ugliness.

Twentieth-century Russian literature has produced nothing special except perhaps one novel and two stories by Andrei Platonov, who ended his days sweeping streets.

How delightful to find a friend in everyone.

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.

For darkness restores what light cannot repair.

I sit in the dark. And it would be hard to figure out which is worse; the dark inside, or the darkness out.

Geography blended with time equals destiny.

Life—the way it really is—is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse

Poetry is what is gained in translation.

And You win. Period.

When leaves begin to sprout, we know spring season is here.

I would feel much better about this whole affair if you would slap me and get it over with. I know you want to.

But I've learned now that your hard work and dedication will pay off, if you dare to be different. Because why would I want to be anything other than myself?

The only principles of public conduct that are worthy of a gentleman or a man are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even life, to the sacred calls of his country.

No wonder the teacher knows so much; she has the book.

I love kidding around and having a good time.

Every European goes on the streets and sees medieval churches. Not if you live in Indianapolis. The most exciting letters I received were from people in places like that.

Why do people want to pretend that death is sleep? It isn't. It isn't.

If it's a principle, it's a winner. If it's a tactic, it's a loser.