When I meet a new person, I am on the lookout for signs of what he or she is loyal to. It is a preliminary clue to the sense of belonging, and hence of his or her humanity.

For support, I fall back on my heart. Has a man any fault a woman cannot weave with and try to change into something better, if the god her man prays to is a mother holding a baby?

Each of us is a being in himself and a being in society, each of us needs to understand himself and understand others, take care of others and be taken care of himself.

And who is any of us, that without starvation he can go through the kingdoms of starvation?

When an individual fear or apathy would cause us to pass by the unfortunate, then life is of no account.

Certainly there are great men whose age circumscribes them so completely that we lose interest.

When people discuss religion, it is a pity that they often become excited and argue. We should merely listen, as one does on a dark night; we should merely gaze at the stars.

A man's motive in the small actions of daily life, like resting a moment on his pitchfork in the sun and listening intently, may be the most important thing about that man.

To strip a man of all loyalties but those to the state, makes him not only a worm but a monster, without a shred of humanity.

Surely no one can be sure he has visited Cienega; people say to themselves, do they not: 'Was it a vision; or have I, some time or other, seen dusk in a valley like this?'

I do not believe that we can stop perfecting new ways of dying until we have found new ways of living. Every new life-way ought to prevent a new death-way.

The earth is a mosaic, and most fail to notice the gossamer tesserae floating down from the realm of the mind that form its images of beauty and horror.

Crime brings together honest men and concentrates them.

Stop being conned by the old mantra that says, 'Leaders are cool, managers are dweebs.' Instead, follow the Peters Principle: Leaders are cool. Managers are cool too!

My loss may shine yet goodlier than your gain When Time and God give judgment.

I never thought I would be impeached.

Five hundred words a day is what I aim for. And I don't go on to the next chapter until I've polished and polished and polished the one I'm working on.

I always admire people who have passion.

I have realized why corrupt politicians do nothing to improve the quality of public school education. They are terrified of educated voters.

I don't usually get to play sophisticated women. I usually do the old scrubs, chavs or slappers.

Clinton is someone who understands trade, who understands we want more of it, but we want it under a different set of rules.