I am overwhelmed by an irresistible temptation to do my climb by moonlight and unroped. This is contrary to all my rock climbing teaching & does not mean poor training, but only a strong-headedness.

Regret is unnecessary. Think before you act.

The major cause for American Negroes intellectual and social deficits is hereditary and racially genetic in origin and thus not remedial to a major degree by improvement in environment.

It has today occurred to me that an amplifier using semiconductors rather than vacuum is in principle possible.[Laboratory notebook, 29 Dec 1939.]

This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.

You and your sins must separate, or you and your God will never come together.

Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence.

I don't go for very handsome men. Like they say in England, toy boys break too easily.

The words are all gone, the time's been too long but it's not too late to say I'm sorry to a friend

I don't know how many good books I still have in me; I hope there are another four or five.

I just feel passionately about a few things and particularly about helping artists get off the ground.

To be proud of learning is the greatest ignorance.

Superstition is rooted in a much deeper and more sensitive layer of the psyche than skepticism.

I wouldn't consider myself an outsider artist because I have a university degree in painting.