You fear that if you lower your guard for even one second your whole world will disintegrate into chaos

Remember: the time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself. Life's cruelest irony.

Handmade presents are scary because they reveal that you have too much free time.

You can't fake creativity, competence, or sexual arousal.

Fondue sets, martini shakers and juicing machines: three things the world could live completely without.

If a building looks better under construction than it does when finished, then it's a failure.

Big companies are like marching bands. Even if half the band is playing random notes, it still sounds kind of like music. The concealment of failure is built into them.

Eagles are seagulls with a good hairdo.

We decided that the French could never write user-friendly software because they're so rude.

Is there anything in the world more annoyingly creepy than an unspoken dress code?

When we constantly ask for miracles, we're unraveling the fabric of the world. A world of continuous miracles would not be a world, it would be a cartoon.

Death and vulgarity are the only two facts in the nineteenth century that one cannot explain away.

If you wait for inspiration to write you're not a writer, you're a waiter.

I have noticed that rooms which are extra clean feel extra cold

An acute first-class brain is the finest asset anyone can have- and, if we want to be happy, it is an asset we must exploit to the uttermost.

I could never learn to like her, except on a raft at sea with no other provisions in sight.

Politics is its own world. It is a court and if the king's eye lights on you, you are a powerful figure. If the king's eye wanders elsewhere, you are out, whatever your title.

We have no control over outcomes, but we can control the process. Of course, outcomes matter, but by focusing our attention on process, we maximize our chances of good outcomes.

Music is one big thing to me.

The cry of a baby is God's voice: never drive them away from the church!

To see a young couple loving each other is no wonder; but to see an old couple loving each other is the best sight of all.