It was better to leave the space empty of words than to choose the wrong ones.

She had come to letters late in her life, and though she had mastered them, they had never become her good friends.

When has been disappointed for so long, hope becomes the enemy. One cannot be dashed to the earth unless one is lifted first, and I learned to avoid hope.

It was as if I had been following a narrow trail, and had suddenly realized that at any time I could leave it and strike out cross-country.

There was a danger in asking too much of a child, but the danger of asking too little was almost equal.

I will always take your part, Bee. Right or wrong. That is why you must always take care to be right, lest you make your father a fool.

As dye soaks fibres, drawn into them to change their colour forever, so does a memory, stinging or sweet, change the fibre of a man’s character.

I was lonely, and a lonely heart has hungers that can overpower both common sense and dignity.

...there was no point in sighing after what I could not have. It only distracted me from what I did have.

...once students have been taught that learning is tedious, difficult, and useless, they will never learn another lesson.

How often does a man know, without question, that he has done well? I do not think it happens often in anyone's life, and it becomes even rarer once one has a child.

Don't let your dreams rust! Listen to your youthful bells ringing loud inside of you.

I'm thankful that my memory is good because my vision is going.

A Protestant, if he wants aid or advice on any matter, can only go to his solicitor.

Everything that I do, I have to do at my best. No one is perfect, but you can come close.

No athlete works harder than Floyd Mayweather.

Had Mittag-Leffler had his way, I should have to wait until the year 1984, which to me seemed too great a demand!

I am far less interested in serving as a change agent than in functioning as a prose artist, whether it's fiction or nonfiction.

Violence in the voice is often only the death rattle of reason in the throat.

... there can be no more shameless carelessness than with the food we eat for life itself.

The poet is the one who breaks through our habits.