The modernist writers found despair inspirational.

Pain narrows consciousness; pleasure blurs it.

When Medusa looks in the mirror, she sees the Lady of Sorrows.

My passions have never jumped out of the fireplace and set fire to the carpet.

Retirement requires the invention of a new hedonism, not a return to the hedonism of youth

The sewing machine joins what the scissors have cut asunder, plus whatever else comes in its path.

Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.

The laughter of the aphorism is sometimes triumphant, but seldom carefree.

'Be faithful to your roots' is the liberal version of 'Stay in your ghetto.'

Every day begins with an act of courage and hope: getting out of bed.

Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris.

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for perfection is God's business.

Most nights, someone ends up in our bed. The kids do knock before entering. We've at least got that part down because mommy and daddy need some space.

The left has lost the common touch.

Some other places were not so good but maybe we were not so good when we were in them.

It makes my makeup artist's life easier. [Plus] it makes my eyes look a little more open on TV, which is where I happen to work right now.

The spinning wheel is itself an exquisite piece of machinery. My head daily bows in reverence to its unknown inventor.

I find myself by default an atheist but fairly unhappily so. It would be bloody marvelous if there was a god.

You are only one defining decision away from a totally different life!

There's no better friend than a sister.

I helped Ben with the third edition of Security Analysis, published in 1951.