One encounters very capable fathers abashed by their piano-playing daughters. Three measures of Schumann make them red with embarrassment.

But the main things about a man are his eyes and his feet. He should be able to see the world and go after it.

And if you ask again whether there is any justice in the world, you'll have to be satisfied with the reply: Not for the time being; at any rate, not up to this Friday.

Writing is not chewing your nails and picking your teeth, but a matter of public interest.

Cultivate your Futurism. I'll cultivate my Döblinism.

You shouldn't be a big shot about your fate. I'm an enemy of Destiny, I'm not a Greek, I'm a Berliner.

No country is so peaceful as the one that leads into death. Life arches above one's head like a bridgespan, and below it flows the water, carries the boat, takes it further.

Much unhappiness comes from walking alone. When there are several, it's somewhat different. I must get into the habit of listening to others, for what the others say concerns me, too.

The cities are the principal home and seat of the human group. They are the coral colony for Man, the collective being.

My books, at any rate, deserved to be burned.

The world is made of sugar and dirt.

A loss may be sometimes a gain.

Sending everything they touch to the grave is what they do, but they don't see it as a grave mistake, yet.

It is not a surprise that a person would want to be a prophet. What's ridiculous is that other people let him.

I like suggesting that ‘we are slaves to the objects around us,’ that ‘plenty should be enough,’ or that the ‘buyer should beware,’ within the context of conventional selling space.

Didn't the people who made those license plates care about little girls named Ramona?

... the top 10 percent of incomes pay 70 percent of the income taxes and cast about 25 percent of the vote.

I can’t help thinking about memoir as a down-and-up process: Dive down for color; come up for context. Sink back down for action; climb back up for self-awareness and gratitude.

Intoxication is calculated to put heart into the elderly and give them delight in dancing.

[Donald Trump] is not cool and therefore they're very proudly pointing out that none of them are gonna perform at his inauguration.

Everyone of a hundred thousand cities around the world had its own special sunset and it was worth going there, just once, if only to see the sun go down.