The fact that I was a girl never damaged my ambitions to be a pope or an emperor.

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.

Success is never so interesting as struggle

Of all the bewildering things about a new country, the absence of human landmarks is one of the most depressing and disheartening.

The sky was a midnight-blue, like warm, deep, blue water, and the moon seemed to lie on it like a water-lily, floating forward with an invisible current.

It takes a great deal of experience to become natural.

Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen.

Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky.

The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is.

The end is nothing; the road is all.

Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.

Lynching is an important aspect of racial history and racial inequality in America, because it was visible, it was so public, it was so dramatic, and it was so violent.

"O' course I came to look arter you, my darlin'," replied Mr. Weller; for once permitting his passion to get the better of his veracity.

The biggest difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people are willing to do what unsuccessful people are not.

Quiet talk is the language of love. It is the language of peace. It is the language of God.

The existence of God, the why of life, was all that really only a question of glands?

In terms of 'Solaris,' I didn't really think about the religious aspect an awful lot. There's one scene at a dinner party, and it's discussed, but it wasn't an overwhelming theme for me.

I prefer my hesitations, my false paths, my stammering, to a preconceived idea.

You should see what she’s wearing, Callie. It’s velvet. Canary yellow velvet. Turban to match. She looks like a furry banana.

If you think about it long enough, you'll see that it's obvious.

The beginning of wisdom is a definition of terms.