In the window, I fantasize... about providing grown-ups and children alike with the greatest gift of all: insight.

Not being funny doesn't make you a bad person. Not having a sense of humor does.

Well into adulthood, writing has never gotten easier. It still only ever begins badly, and there are no guarantees that this is not the day when the jig is finally up.

Altruism is innate, but it's not instinctual. Everybody's wired for it, but a switch has to be flipped.

Being a stranger was like being dead, and brought to mind how, in a book he had read that most folks misunderstood one common state: The flip side of love is indifference, not hate.

We’re creatures of contact regardless of whether/ we kiss or we wound. Still, we must come together.

There is nothing so cleansing or reassuring as a vicarious sadness.

Youth is not wasted on the young, it is perpetrated on the young.

Central to living a life that is good, is a life that's forgiving.

I am neither spontaneous nor ready for anything.

I have managed to establish an identity that is based on my internal self, and for that I feel tremendously lucky.

The most powerful affirmation you will ever find is this: “I am as God created me.

How can you showcase your unique expertise, valuable experience, and strong education without sounding egotistical?

No other chancellor in the long history of the office has felt the need to pass a law in order to convince people he has the political will to implement his own Budget.

American families don't work. There is an illusion that they do.

Maruman does not loll.

The happy man's without a shirt.

The question now is: Can we understand our stupidity? This is a test of intellect, not of character.

You know we all became mathematicians for the same reason: we were lazy.

I am the poet of the poor, because I was poor when I loved; since I could not give gifts, I gave words.

I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington.