What I dislike least in my former self are the moments of prayer.

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not.

One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.

A straight path never leads anywhere except to the objective.

Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.

We should enjoy this summer, flower by flower, as if it were to be the last one we’ll see.

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.

Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you.

The thing I am most aware of is my limits. And this is natural; for I never, or almost never, occupy the middle of my cage; my whole being surges toward the bars.

True intelligence very readily conceives of an intelligence superior to its own; and this is why truly intelligent men are modest.

The conscious experience of being a subject arises when a single organism learns to enslave itself.

The next best thing after finishing writing a chapter is starting a new one.

and more important, did he love me as much as he once loved me?

I guess the news is this: If you're a Republican and you smile, liberals don't like it. Maybe that's because Democrats are afraid that I've been able to show an optimistic vision for this country.

Avoid negative people at all costs. They are the greatest destroyers of self-confidence and self-esteem.

When you spent so much time being terrified that you're going to get something, and then you have it, you don't have to be terrified anymore.

[The main character] is in a forever-growing process. I feel the movie [everybody Loves Somebody] did that very well and not finishing off as "a woman's life ends when she finds the right guy".

Love, love, love, says Percy. And hurry as fast as you can along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust. Then, go to sleep. Give up your body heat, your beating heart. Then, trust.

I felt the ruthfulness and senselessness of war so acutlely that I wrote the first three stanzas of which, are in effect a prayer.

I've never actually been a collector. I like the learning-curve, but I buy things, sell them to finance other things.