I wish to God,” said Gideon with mild exasperation, “that you’d talk—just once—in prose like other people.

Man is a being of varied, manifold and inconstant nature. And woman, by God, is a match for him.

But I despised men who accepted their fate. I shaped mine twenty times and had it broken twenty times in my hands.

And habits are hell's own substitute for good intentions. Habits are the ruin of ambition, of initiative , of imagination. They're the curse of marriage and the after-bane of death.

I would give you my soul in a blackberry pie; and a knife to cut it with.

After I convinced them that I was a harmless novelist, I actually got them to give me a tour of the harem - which is usually off limits for tourists.

Look up . . . and see them. The teaching stars, beyond worship and commonplace tongues.

So she was on her own, Kate thought, and instilled all the friendly helpfulness she could into her next question. “Excuse me, but are you the bad company young Mr. Scott has got into?

He regards boredom, I observe, as the One and Mighty Enemy of his soul. And will succeed in conquering it, I am sure—if he survives the experience.

Where are the links of the chain ... joining us to the past?

But it's also because of something personal. My mother and father met while playing chess, so I've always had a fondness for the game. If it weren't for chess, I might not be here.

Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers.

Ignorance is a fools castle.

Don’t ask a yes or no question unless the person being asked can say no without hesitation.

Living never wore one out so much as the effort not to live.

Someday was the thing he had, because it was a lot harder to ruin than today.

What Reagan ushered in was a skepticism toward government solutions to every problem. I don't think that has changed

Think. Learn. Act. The more you know, the better and more educated choices you have the opportunity to make.

Do nice things for people who may be less fortunate than you.

Any kind of expectation creates a problem. We should accept, but not expect. Whatever comes, accept it. Whatever goes, accept it. The immediate benefit is that your mind is always peaceful.

California is a great big nation of one They never knew what they wanted 'til it was already gone