I have no personal system of philosophy. I never attempt to do that. I am merely a man of letters.

So plant your own gardens and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time.

Don't talk unless you can improve the silence.

I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities I have visited.

I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.

The worst labyrinth is not that intricate form that can entrap us forever, but a single and precise straight line

The fact is that poetry is not the books in the library . . . Poetry is the encounter of the reader with the book, the discovery of the book.

Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone.

I can give you my loneliness, my darkness, the hunger of my heart, I am trying to bribe you with uncertainty, with danger, with defeat.

The original is unfaithful to the translation.

The value of taking risks through all stages of life is constant...it's the excuses that change.

But things are so bad, I feel like I’m going to explode if I don’t do something.

Time heals what reason cannot.

You want to prove that Milton Friedman is a fascist? It's easy. Quote him.

Every battle, every war - is fought for things worth dying for.

There are so many things we've been brought up to believe that it takes you an awfully long time to realize that they aren't you.

What we do is a calling...we make people happy.

Everything I am, everything I'll ever be, I owe to my family, to God's grace and to the people of Indiana.

Never want to say anything so strongly that you give up the option of finding something better. If you have to say it, you will.

Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.