You shouldn't be a big shot about your fate. I'm an enemy of Destiny, I'm not a Greek, I'm a Berliner.

But the main things about a man are his eyes and his feet. He should be able to see the world and go after it.

And if you ask again whether there is any justice in the world, you'll have to be satisfied with the reply: Not for the time being; at any rate, not up to this Friday.

Writing is not chewing your nails and picking your teeth, but a matter of public interest.

Cultivate your Futurism. I'll cultivate my Döblinism.

No country is so peaceful as the one that leads into death. Life arches above one's head like a bridgespan, and below it flows the water, carries the boat, takes it further.

Much unhappiness comes from walking alone. When there are several, it's somewhat different. I must get into the habit of listening to others, for what the others say concerns me, too.

The cities are the principal home and seat of the human group. They are the coral colony for Man, the collective being.

One encounters very capable fathers abashed by their piano-playing daughters. Three measures of Schumann make them red with embarrassment.

My books, at any rate, deserved to be burned.

The world is made of sugar and dirt.

It doesn’t matter. I love you. That’s it. That’s all. I hope to hell it’s enough.

Ennesby, get the Serial Peacemaker to the beach for dustoff.""Dustoff? You're going to run away from three guys?""No, I'm going to kill or capture those three guys, and then run away from the Police.

That was the nature of the waters. You never knew what lurked below.

It's futile to talk reason to anger

I'm told that a couple of my Russian translations are just plain terrible, though, and there may be others.

From the outset, I conceived Star Wars as a series of six films, or two trilogies.

Bigots are actually funny to me in the way that people who still wear parachute pants give me a chuckle.

Our problem in America is not with atheists or the pagans who are consistent with their unbelief, but with believers who are inconsistent with their belief.

It's not the plot [of Valley of Violence] - the plot is the reason to get all these things to happen, all these character moments to happen. It was always meant to have these two perspectives.

Some missionaries bound for Africa were laughed at by the boat captain. 'You'll only die over there,' he said. But a missionary replied, 'Captain, we died before we started.'