Success is no proof of virtue. In the case of a book, quick acclaim is presumptive evidence of a lack of substance and originality.

It does not follow that the meaning must be given from above; that life and suffering must come neatly labeled; that nothing is worth while if the world is not governed by a purpose.

Man stands alone in the universe, responsible for his condition, likely to remain in a lowly state, but free to reach above the stars.

Writing is thinking in slow motion.

Reason may not always tell us what to believe, but it can help us on what we shouldn't believe.

The great artist is the man who most obviously succeeds in turning his pains to advantage, in letting suffering deepen his understanding and sensibility, in growing through his pains.

Words signify man's refusal to accept the world as it is.

Those who believe in God because their experience of life and the facts of nature prove his existence must have led sheltered lives and closed their hearts to the voice of their brothers' blood.

For atheism and polytheism there is no special problem of suffering, nor need there be for every kind of monotheism.

To try to fashion something from suffering, to relish our triumphs, and to endure defeats without resentment: all that is compatible with the faith of a heretic.

Life ceases to be so oppressive: we are free to give our own lives meaning and purpose, free to redeem our suffering by making something of it.

Enormity of the stakes became the new self-hypnosis.

There are those to whom one must advise madness.

Those who have easy cheerful attitudes tend to be happier than those with less pleasant temperaments regardless of money "making it " or success.

I just did a dramatic love story. Whether it's a cultural phenomenon is not for me to say.

The situation of the general government, if it can be called a government, is shaken to its foundation, and liable to be overturned by every blast.

Art...must do something more than give pleasure: it should relate to our own life so as to increase our energy of spirit.

If the F.A.A. was around when the Wright Brothers were testing their aircraft, they would never have been able to make their first flight at Kitty Hawk.

If something is easy to repair, it is easy to construct.

I felt like I'd been misplaced in the cosmos and I belonged in Maine.

The least responsive audience I can ever remember playing to.