I have no confidence in a man whose faults you cannot see.

Herman Melville was as separated from a civilized literature as the lost Atlantis was said to have been from the great peoples of the earth.

We cannot live, suffer or die for somebody else, for suffering is too precious to be shared.

When one realizes that his life is worthless he either commits suicide or travels.

Nothing in our times has become so unattractive as virtue.

Recognize the cunning man not by the corpses he pays homage to but by the living writers he conspires against with the most shameful weapon, Silence, or the briefest review.

It takes a long time to understand nothing.

Writing is conscience, scruple, and the farming of our ancestors.

It is very perplexing how an intrepid frontier people, who fought a wilderness, floods, tornadoes, and the Rockies, cower before criticism, which is regarded as a malignant tumor in the imagination.

A strong foe is better than a weak friend.

Narcissus never wrote well nor was a friend.

She is a real bookworm. I think she lives on print. Her whole house is full of books - looks as if she likes them better than human company.

When a literary person's exhaustive work is over, the last thing he wishes to do is to talk books.

City government can and must help San Franciscans prepare for emergencies in order to avoid tragedy where possible and minimize loss of life and property when emergencies occur

And in man is a three-pound brain which, as far as we know, is the most complex and orderly arrangement of matter in the universe.

The most beautiful landscape cannot hold my fascinated attention as much as nature by the seaside and all that is connected with water.

It's just as evil to kill Vietnamese as it is to kill Americans.

I am still ready to shake hands with anyone who designs a better assault rifle than mine.

I really like reading about how families work together.

Don't expect others to do your work for you.

We shape our homes and then our homes shape us.