We love to overlook the boundaries which we do not wish to pass.

Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.

A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

With no other choices open to us, we'd turned our gaze seaward. The oceans were our America: they reached farther than any prairie, untamed as on the first day of creation. Nobody owned them.

Using non-actors has its own rules and really requires that you allow them to do their own thing.

Only by declaring a book completely finished can one start to see how much remains to be done on it.

If on a friend’s bookshelf You cannot find Joyce or Sterne Cervantes, Rabelais, or Burton, You are in danger, face the fact, So kick him first or punch him hard And from him hide behind a curtain.

Kids need love the most when they're acting most unlovable.

Every man who deserves to be famous knows it is not worth the trouble.

War to me is the stupidest way of settling anything. The whole damn thing goes to pieces.

Celebrate what you've accomplished, but raise the bar a little higher each time you succeed.

The mind is a real dangerous neighborhood to travel by ourselves.

The Buddha said that samsara by its nature is painful. He didn't say it was a joyride.