I am mostly a pretty worried person. In conversations, I am always worried about what to say.

It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.

The most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work.

We're Jews, my family, and Jews break down into two distinct subcultures: book Jews and money Jews. We were money Jews.

Not enough gets said about the importance of abandoning crap.

You can criticize yourself to a point to do something better, or you criticize yourself to a point where you inhibit yourself.

Great stories happen to those who can tell them.

We live in a world where joy and empathy and pleasure are all around us, there for the noticing.

It takes a while. It's gonna take you a while. It's normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that.

You'd think that radio was around long enough that someone would have coined a word for staring into space.

It's not a terribly original thing to say, but I love Raymond Carver. For one thing, he's fun to read out loud.

The greatest wealth in the world is the wealth of time.

Thievery is for the civilized. It is what laws protect us from. I am a wild beast of no laws and no society. I want no laws. I want no more civilized things.

For a second, two seconds, they had exchanged an equivocal glance, and that was the end of the story. But even that was a memorable event, in the locked loneliness in which one had to live.

GOD IS YOUR THOUGHTS

The real hallmark of learning is transferring what you’ve learned into new contexts.

Tyrannies not only want to control your mind and thoughts but your flesh as well.

Standing near someone you love in a time of trouble is its own reward.

Society is a masked ball, where every one hides his real character, and reveals it by hiding.

Throwing people out of a game is like learning to ride a bicycle--once you get the hang of it, it can be a lot of fun.

It is always fair sailing, when you escape evil.