Whether or not Big Brother is watching us, we certainly have to watch him, which may be even worse.

For Catholics before Vatican II, the land of the free was pre-eminently the land of Sister Says-except, of course, for Sister, for whom it was the land of Father Says.

Of course, history is only a muddle of facts and a fuddle of professors, and anyone who thinks it is one clear voice saying "Arise, sir Knight" deserves a life sentence in Camelot.

Saloons provide moments of genuine ecstasy - but only if your soul is at peace and the rest of your life bears contemplating. Otherwise, they are palaces of misery.

I picked up the writing on the very day he died. It was the only consolation I could find.

The only reason I didn't kill myself after I read the reviews of my first book was because we have two rivers in New York and I couldn't decide which one to jumo into.

The American male doesn't mature until he has exhausted all other possibilities.

Suicide is about life, being in fact the sincerest form of criticism life gets.

If the French were really intelligent, they'd speak English.

The worse we treat people in this country, the more delicately we talk about them.

Mr Michener, as timeless as a stack of 'National Geographics,' is the ultimate Summer Writer. Just as one goes back to the cottage in Maine, so one goes back to one's Michener.

Folly and evil are disciples of doom

Enthusiasm is the greatest asset in the world. It beats money and power and influence.

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.

I don't really comment on my personal life because I feel like any comment at all is opening up a whole can of worms. I'd just rather not talk about who I'm dating.

I think anything that is expressed directly and as honestly as possible will last.

If you like your brother and he's prospering, you'll be pleased for him.

Things of which there is sight, hearing, apprehension, these I prefer.

Sometimes sadness is appropriate. Not something to run from, not something to numb...just something to feel.

I'm not really a plot writer - I'm more interested in the characters and sort of small events that propel the story forward.

There's tons of waste on every film. It really doesn't matter the budget, as long as it hits a bull's-eye.