Winter hurled more wind and rain at the city than it ever had before. Clouds dashed about in all directions emptying their thunder, hail and rain. The horizon was choked in fog.

If an animal has to be sacrificed when a new bridge is built, what will it take to build a whole new world?

It was only a phrase that went from mouth to mouth and was never quite swallowed.

The days were heavy and sticky. All identical, one the same as the other. Soon they would even get rid of their one remaining distinction, the shell of their names: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday.

Dictatorship and authentic literature are incompatible... The writer is the natural enemy of dictatorship.

And everything would be different, different.

The writer is always to some extent in exile, wherever he is, because he is somehow outside, separated from others; there is always a distance.

A mountaineer’s house, before being his home and the home of his family, is the home of God and of guests.

Shiny musical instruments wailed, their mouths open like lilies.

Can a country's people be better than its planes?

Can one move an empire as if it were a house?

We may not understand the pathways God lays out before us. We may not even like walking the journey. But even in failure, we can trust that He’ll do more than we expect.

I consider social skills a bit like learning a language. I've been practising it for so long over so many years I've almost lost my accent.

So there will be a bill. We've been working on it now for a year.

Truth be told, there are lots of companies that provide exemplary phone support. DirecTV, Virgin America and Apple are a few that regularly exceed my expectations.

All human beings are interconnected, one with all other elements in creation.

The best way to describe myself would be...unpredictable.

Old money is fully as moronic as new money but it has inherited an appearance of cultivation.

For I consider the character of no man affected by a want of success, provided he has made an honest effort to succeed.

The six great gifts of an Irish girl are beauty, soft voice, sweet speech, wisdom, needlework, and chastity.

Shutting one's eyes is an art, my dear. I suppose there's no use trying to make you see that - but that's the only way one can stay married.