Tremendous interest in the superficial is very characteristic of cultures in decline.

Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb, and the rose grow without thorn.

Religious belief is without reason and without dignity, and its record is near-universally dreadful.

Probably human cruelty is fixed and eternal. Only styles change.

My life looked good on paper - where, in fact, almost all of it was being lived.

When the past is forgotten, the present is unforgettable

Closure is a greasy little word which, moreover, describes a nonexistent condition. The truth, Venus, is that nobody gets over anything.

Perhaps there are other bits of my life that would take on content, take on shadow, if only I read more and thought less about money.

When you’ve lost all your play, guess what love becomes. Work. Work that gets harder every hour.

Love is blind; but it makes you see the blind man; teetering on the roadside . . .

Every 10 years you're a different person, and the really great books evolve with you as you get older. They're full of new rewards.

You don't know me. You know one me, just like I know one you. And you can't know every me, and I can't know every you.

They say opposites attract. Nobody ever said opposites live happily ever after.

In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education.

The only wealth you keep is the wealth that you give away.

If you're a Catholic you believe what the Church teaches and the climate makes no difference.

I want us to know our world. If I lived in North Georgia on up through the Appalachians, I would be just as crazy about the mountain laurel as I am about [Texas] bluebonnets.

You must learn all things, both the unshaken heart of persuasive truth, and the opinions of mortals in which there is no true warranty.

I regard myself as being the final filter so everything that ends up in the movie is there because it's something that I think was cool.

I'm an avowed centrist, and I believe that - centrism is often - it's almost the wrong word to use, because it's often seen as sort of splitting the difference between right and left.

I thought that Mr. Clutter was a very nice gentleman. I thought so right up to the moment that I cut his throat.