True charity, I had had discovered, consists of swallowing an invisible flaming sword.

Dreamless nights, I knew, can be the most troubling, since you come back not knowing where you've been or what you've done.

I do not encourage early morning chirpiness, even in those whom I know and love. It is generally a sign of a sloppy mind, and is not to be encouraged.

You can learn from a glance at anyone's library, not what they are, but what they wish to be.

Growing up is like that, I suppose. The strings fall away and you're left standing on your own.

As anybody with two older sisters can tell you, a closed door is like a red rag to a bull. It cannot go unchallenged.

It's amazing what the discovery of a corpse can do for one's spirits.

Love is love, wherever you may find it—even when it's covered in feathers.

I could tell he was becoming sulky, as boys and men do when they're caught bluffing. And I ignored him, as girls and women do when they catch them out.

You can get a lot of work done if you stay with it and are excited and its play instead of work.

When I stood there, looking out the window at the raindrops and thinking of everything I lost, I forgot everything I have. When I remembered the things I have, I forgot I lost anything at all.

You're better than no one and no one is better than you.

A short-order cook, just off work, makes easy tracking for lions and worse

The only thing more exhausting than sleeping on a bad mattress is shopping for a new one.

I've been in Iraq, and it never occurred to me to go, 'Hey, this war is bogus,' to some guy who's 24 hours a day trying not to get shot at or blown up.

I enjoy the old-fashioned idea of, like, His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby, those old movies.

She's pretty." (It's amazing how girls can say this and make it the most withering insult.)

The search for truth is really a lot of good fun.

I was offered 'I'm A Celebrity...' for a lot of money, but I don't like the level of degradation.