I do not encourage early morning chirpiness, even in those whom I know and love. It is generally a sign of a sloppy mind, and is not to be encouraged.

Dreamless nights, I knew, can be the most troubling, since you come back not knowing where you've been or what you've done.

You can learn from a glance at anyone's library, not what they are, but what they wish to be.

Growing up is like that, I suppose. The strings fall away and you're left standing on your own.

As anybody with two older sisters can tell you, a closed door is like a red rag to a bull. It cannot go unchallenged.

It's amazing what the discovery of a corpse can do for one's spirits.

Love is love, wherever you may find it—even when it's covered in feathers.

I could tell he was becoming sulky, as boys and men do when they're caught bluffing. And I ignored him, as girls and women do when they catch them out.

True charity, I had had discovered, consists of swallowing an invisible flaming sword.

I don’t know when reading books became the most essential thing about me, but it happened over the years and I found myself the most willing servant of what I considered a rich habit.

Every problem of medicine is a problem of language, and this operation was a malapropism.

The road to democracy is not a freeway. It is a toll road on which we pay by accepting and carrying out our civic responsibilities.

Wars are not paid for in wartime, the bill comes later.

No science ever defends its first principles.

Jnana yoga is a very demanding practice. It's necessary for you to become conscious of the fact that you're not human.

If I work toward an end, meantime I am confined to a process.

As a writer, my job is to think of evil ways to destroy the world and save it. What could be more fun?

There is no greater pleasure in the world than riding a good horse.

My favorite Dominican dish to indulge in is anything with crab.