Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

Any person capable of angering you becomes your master.

Don't be concerned with other people's impressions of you. They are dazzled and deluded by appearances. Stick with your purpose. This alone will strengthen your will and give your life coherence.

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.

When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.

I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived - and dying I will tend to later.

From this instant on, vow to stop disappointing yourself. Separate yourself from the mob. Decide to be extraordinary and do what you need to do -- now.

Keep your attention focused entirely on what is truly your own concern, and be clear that what belongs to others is their business and none of yours.

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

If someone speaks badly of you, do not defend yourself against the accusations, but reply; "you obviously don't know about my other vices, otherwise you would have mentioned these as well

...I would want to spend it with you. Even if we had thousands of nights, I would want to spend every single one of them with you.

Open confession of dictatorship is far less dangerous than sham democracy. One can defend oneself against the former

A lot of people see it as a kind of failure to stay in the place where you’re from, especially if you’re from the Midwest. Like ambition is geographic.

One always expects something else.

All animals go through interminable hard labor to produce what humans shamelessly rob from them at great physical/mental pain to them and to their young. THINK TWICE before using hot 'merchandise'!!!

There's always someone going to come around who can be better than the best. You want to be the first. No one can ever forget the first.

Reading without purpose is sauntering not exercise.

Regret is an appalling waste of time.

War has been good to me from a financial standpoint but I don't want to make money that way. I don't want blood money.

I have a lot of stuff that I never published because I always had a sense that novels were not finally going to be the way I made my living, because the form was dying commercially.