The heart must glow before the tongue can gild.

The line of life is a ragged diagonal between duty and desire.

A blue eye is a true eye; Mysterious is a dark one, Which flashes like a spark sun! A black eye is the best one.

After every storm the sun will smile; for every problem there is a solution, and the soul's indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer.

Proverbs are mental gems gathered in the diamond districts of the mind.

A sigh can shatter a castle in the air.

False eloquence is exaggeration; true eloquence is emphasis.

Public opinion is a second conscience.

Reserve may be pride fortified in ice; dignity is worth reposing on truth.

Fate is the friend of the good, the guide of the wise, the tyrant of the foolish, the enemy of the bad.

What is the highest secret to victory and peace? To will what God wills, and strike a league with destiny.

Since I became a novelist I have discovered that I am biased. Either I think a new novel is worse than mine and I don’t like it, or I suspect it is better than my novels and I don’t like it.

The good old days needed a lot of improvement. People aren't the only things that get better with age.

Truly worthy are those who become brighter as the days get cloudier so that their light shines through, regardless of how hard the clouds are working to block their radiance.

Let us be done with the notion that religion is confined to petty pieties and small constraints. All too often people who have possessed these pieties have wrought great evil.

I don't really write plots. I use history as the engine that drives everything.

LEAD, n. A heavy blue-gray metal much used in giving stability to light lovers - particularly to those who love not wisely but other men's wives.

Captain is a good travelling name and so I take it.

As society has changed, what had formerly been unacceptable has become colorful.

My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of all human kind.

If you're sexy, everybody will love you. That's what I wanted -- for everybody to love me.