Some temptations cannot be fought. One must close one's mind and fly from them

If you are writing any book about the end of the world, what you are really writing about is what's worth saving about it.

Gratitude is something of which none of us can give too much. For on the smiles, the thanks we give, our little gestures of appreciation, our neighbors build their philosophy of life.

The virtue of achievement is victory over oneself. Those who know this can never know defeat.

Behind every writer stands a very large bookshelf.

My inventing time is all done under the influence of aerobic exercise. Basically, I do all my thinking while I run.

I grew up during the Cold War, when everything seemed very tenuous. For many years, right up until the fall of the Berlin Wall, I had vivid nightmares of nuclear apocalypse.

That is life... to begin again when everything is lost!

We cannot measure Divine Providence by the yardstick of human mentality.

Even if my country remains in war with yours. . .remember. . . i am not your enemy.

[Once plans for each eventuality are resolved, further] Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, but only saps today of its strength.

A puzzle is not a dead-end.

The word maybe was beginning to annoy me, because the only thing that was fixed was that maybe would be with me forever.

It gives me great strength to know that half the people I meet are below average.

Language is an inventory of human experience.

My brother is the youngest member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. And I wouldn't let him cut my nails.

Am I getting better at making choices? Well, I think I might be getting better at reading scripts.

Only the solitary seek the truth, and they break with all those who don't love it sufficiently

That's what fiction writers do: create characters and do terrible things to them for the entertainment of others. If they feel guilty enough, they write happy endings.

I don't like things that can be reproduced. Wood isn't important in itself but rather in the fact that objects made in it are unique, simple, unpretentious.

I find that we must be careful not to judge or weigh in on anything other than ourselves. I am living and learning this still!