I grew up to have my father's looks, my father's speech patterns, my father's posture, my father's opinions, and my mother's contempt for my father.

Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid.

I told the doctor I was overtired, anxiety-ridden, compulsively active, constantly depressed, with recurring fits of paranoia. Turns out I'm normal.

Design is important because chaos is so hard.

We are all continually embarking on first drafts, in every aspect of our lives.

Maturity is only a short break in adolescence.

If you are not able to communicate successfully between yourself and yourself, how are you supposed to make it with the strangers outside?

Jesus died to forgive our sins. Dare we make his martyrdom meaningless by not committing them?

Imagination continually frustrates tradition; that is its function.

Writing, I explained, was mainly an attempt to out-argue one's past; to present events in such a light that battles lost in life were either won on paper or held to a draw.

Getting out of bed in the morning is an act of false confidence.

The stars were withdrawn, small, giving no light, unlike other nights when they seemed to hang large from the sky ready to be reached for and taken into our hands.

The machines men are so intent on making have carried them very far from the old sweet things.

The only sure thing is that in business there are no sure things.

When a device as simple as a door has to come with an instruction manual—even a one-word manual—then it is a failure, poorly designed.

An enlightened teacher teaches you how to gain power. They give you power. They teach you how to shape it so that it becomes an instrument of beauty and not an instrument of unhappiness.

Warfare is the father of all good things, it is also the father of good prose!

Some will not look on suffering because it creates responsibility.

De Niro is a classic example of somebody who is iconic and who sort of effortlessly puts actors at ease the moment you meet him. I think it's also just something that he innately does with people.

I claim you, Rowan Whitethorn. I don't care what you say and how much you protest. I claim you as my friend.

My "drop in the ocean" will contribute to the enlightenment of Europe, so to speak.