The test of an abstract picture, for me, is not my first reaction to it, but how long I can stand it hanging on the wall of a room where I am living.

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.

We hope that, when the insects take over the world, they will remember with gratitude how we took them along on all our picnics.

The eagle may soar; beavers build dams.

The US has not imposed democracy in Yemen, its people have.

The whale is endangered, while the ant continues to do just fine.

Even pearls are dark before the whiteness of his teeth.

Money won't buy happiness, but it will pay the salaries of a large research staff to study the problem.

Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to.

Now that women are jockeys, baseball umpires, atomic scientists, and business executives, maybe someday they can master parallel parking.

The government is shutting down the coal industry, they say it's cheaper to draw nuclear power off the French grid and cheaper to buy coal from Colombia.

You start to die the moment you are born. The whole of life is cutting through the pack with death. So take it easy.

Clouds buzz by, unaware of the scary world below them. I envy them. I envy the easy way that they live and die. They never have to worry about tomorrow and what horrors or death it might bring.

You really don't know a person until you spend some time in their panties.

Sacrifice: That's what makes our mosaic so beautiful and rich.

You need a good support system when you're trying to make positive lifestyle changes. If everyone is eating burgers and fries while you're having fish and salad, it's easy to lose your willpower.

I have never written anything in one draft, not even a grocery list, although I have heard from friends that this is actually possible.

Whatever doubt there may be as to the quality or purpose of our free speech we certainly have ample volumes in production.

I definitely don't Google my name.

To by held above the earth and be brushed by the wind," she said,"it's like your heart has been kissed by beauty.

Life in the Middle East is quite different from other places.