I'm very happy for whatever plaudits might come the way of my work, but I never ever sit down to write x with y in view - whether it's a reader, a prize or a sale.

If you want to be proud of yourself, then do things in which you can take pride

A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.

To find a mountain path all by oneself gives a greater feeling of strength than to take a path that is shown.

I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.

Desire outweighs footwork when it comes to crashing the glass

It could be argued that every age gets the comfort savagery writer it deserves.

Anyone can get a job, but do you have a purpose?

If you are in a bad relationship with anyone else, it is because you are in a bad relationship with yourself.

Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.

The summer demands and takes away too much. /But night, the reserved, the reticent, gives more than it takes

I knew the point wasn’t the victory, but pulling yourself together and crawling your way back. That was life.

I’m always soft for you, that’s the problem. You could come knocking on my door five years from now and I would open my arms wider and say ‘come here, it’s been too long, it felt like home with you.

Stop this attitude that older people ain't any good anymore! We're as good as we ever were - if we ever were any good.

Is there such thing as a cheerful pessimist? That's what I am.

People want to feel effortless about their clothes. I don't always get it, I make a lot of mistakes, but that's my goal.

Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding. The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

My only fear is doing something contrary to human nature - the wrong thing, the wrong way, or at the wrong time.

Any action is better than no action at all.

TV gives everyone an image, but radio gives birth to a million images in a million brains.

Somewhere the sense makes copper roses steel roses — The rose carried weight of love but love is at an end — of roses It is at the edge of the petal that love waits.