There must be some deep psychological reason why we turn so instinctively toward home at this special time. . . . A place where every day will be Christmas, with everybody there together. At home.

Young women especially have something invested in being nice people, and it's only when you have children that you realize you're not a nice person at all, but generally a selfish bully.

Let me remember that each life must follow its own course, and that what happens to other people has absolutely nothing to do with what happens to me.

What feeling is so nice as a child's hand in yours? So small, so soft and warm, like a kitten huddling in the shelter of your clasp.

Death is the perfect knowing.

simply to ask a blessing upon one's circumstances, whatever they are, is somehow to improve them, and to tap some mysterious source of energy and joy.

A child's hand in yours - what tenderness and power it arouses. You are instantly the very touchstone of wisdom and strength.

The man or woman who treasures his friends is usually solid gold himself.

When you write from the heart, you not only light the dark path of your readers, you light your own way as well.

the habit of shutting doors behind us is invaluable to happiness; we must learn to shut life's doors to cut out the futile wind of past mistakes.

Man is the only creature whose emotions are entangled with his memory.

We can only predict the future ecological changes, by emergence of the past into the present.

The secret of success is constancy of purpose.

I do not like detached creation. Neither can I conceive of the mind as detached from itself. Each of my works, each diagram of myself, each glacial flowering of my inmost soul dribbles over me.

We have no leadership. They rule by herd. Nobody is in charge. It reminds me of a bunch of cows.

Certainly, to have a woman who waits at home for you, who will sleep with you, gives a warm feeling like having something you must say; it makes you glow, keeps you company, helps you to live.

We learn nothing from history except that we learn nothing from history.

Good kitchens are not about size; they are about ergonomics and light.

Humility is the first step towards learning. You can’t learn until you are humble enough to realize there is something for you to learn.

When you're a weird geek, the way to sell yourself is to show your skills.

When we cooperate, everybody wins.