Teachings that defy reason defy reality; what defies reality defies life. Defying life is embracing death.

If the road is easy, you're likely going the wrong way.

The Wizard's First Rule: People are stupid; given proper motivation almost anyone will believe almost anything.

Knowledge is a weapon. I intend to be formidably armed.

We reap a reward merely in the act of helping others. We never know how, or if, that reward will come back to us. Helping is the reward; none other is needed nor better.

Once you place that crown of liar on your head, you can take it off again, but it leaves a stain for all time.

Charity, if you have the means, is a personal choice, but charity which is expected or compelled is simply a polite word for slavery.

Knowing when to fight is just as important as knowing how.

When the whole world is crazy, it doesn't pay to be sane.

Fate occasionally touches us all in ways we don't always understand.

The light of a new day always chases the shadows of the night away, and shows us that the shape of our fears is only the ghost of our own minds.

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

The shock, for an intelligent writer, of discovering for the first time that there are people younger than himself who think him stupid is severe.

In L.A., there are so many people that are focused on being healthy that it's unhealthy.

The chestnut's proud, and the lilac's pretty, The poplar's gentle and tall, But the plane tree's kind to the poor dull city - I love him best of all.

Attack those concepts such as 'third world.' Think about it. If we look at it in terms of numbers, then people of color are the majority in this world. We should be the 'first world.'

Principally I hate and detest that animal called man; although I heartily love John, Peter, Thomas, and so forth.

To be taken into account were some years of schooling, where I studied with diligence Neptune's laws, and these laws I tried to obey when I sailed overseas; it was worth the while.

I don't like to analyze my music too much. It just comes welling up out of the depths of my soul.

When you make a great record, it's around forever.

Everyone knows [George W. Bush] has no clue, but no one there has the courage to say it. I mean, good gawd, the man is as he always has been: barely adequate.