It was a rainy night. It was the myth of a rainy night.

But why think about that when all the golden lands ahead of you and all kinds of unforseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you're alive to see?

I was halfway across America, at the dividing line between the East of my youth and the West of my future.

This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do.

I was suddenly left with nothing in my hands but a handful of crazy stars.

There was nothing to talk about anymore. The only thing to do was go.

We wandered in a frenzy and a dream (301).

Hell man, I know very well you didn't come to me only to want to become a writer, and after all what do I really know about it except that you've got to stick to it with the energy of a benny addict.

...but I preferred reading the American landscape as we went along. Every bump, rise, and stretch in it mystified my longing.

And I said, 'That last thing is what you can't get, Carlo. Nobody can get to that last thing. We keep on living in hopes of catching it once and for all.

I suddenly began to realize that everybody in America is a natural-born thief.

Over a hundred German scientists arrived here [Huntsville] at eleven o’clock on an April morning and by nightfall more than sixty had applied for cards at the free library.

A pearl never loses its value, not even when covered with dirt.

The society in 'The Handmaid's Tale' is a throwback to the early Puritans whom I studied extensively at Harvard under Perry Miller, to whom the book is dedicated.

I've always been hopeless at everything when I was a kid. That's why I became an actor - 'cause I couldn't do anything else.

Dear is my friend--yet from my foe, as from my friend, comes good: My friend shows what I can do, and my foe what I should.

If you hold yourself dear, protect yourself well.

The only way to get back the confidence is to play and win matches. You can practise as much as you like, but you need confidence that comes from playing and winning matches.

Don't wait for, expect, or rely on favors. Count on earning them by hard work and perseverance.

Why had I taken all those useless classes like bio and German when I should have been taking lipreading?

If the automobile had followed the same development as the computer, a Rolls Royce would today cost $100 and get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year killing everyone inside.