The outlook for our country lies in the quality of its idleness.

Life is always at some turning point.

It is a myth, not a mandate, a fable not a logic, a symbol rather than reason by which men are moved.

The best test of the quality of a civilization is the quality of its leisure.

Sophistication demands honesty; it does not require ill temper.

The contemporary hero, the mythical pattern in the imitation of whom we would live, remains as yet undefined. We have no hero; what is more to the point, we suspect hero worship.

The discovery that the universe has no purpose need not prevent a human being from having one.

Many of our newly smart would rather be found murdering their children than being kind to their parents. They would prefer to be damned for rudeness than to be snickered at for courtesy.

God may still be in His Heaven, but there is more than sufficient evidence that all is not right with the world.

To the modern spirit, disillusioned, or at least unillusioned, the great evil to be avoided is sentimentality.

By the year 1982 the graduated income tax will have practically abolished major differences in wealth.

Education gives you lights to see, wings to fly, and music to sing.

Lord, today I ask for a renewed sense of purpose in my smaller daily choices, knowing that how I spend each moment is how I live my life. Every choice matters.

The most difficult novel I have had to write in terms of just getting it done was The Vampire Lestat. It took a year to write.

Bank robbery is an initiative of amateurs. True professionals establish a bank.

Sporting goods companies pay me not to endorse their products.

Nothing under the sun is ever accidental.

Early on, I found the attention completely embarrassing. I'd cringe if I saw my picture on the cover of a magazine.

The funny thing is, all my friends are short. I wasn't aware of tall people till I got to high school. I didn't know they existed. I was sheltered.

I believe that if you have revolutionary potential, you must make the world a better place.

Needs are the expression of life through us.