People can lose their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned.
Some people, if they didn’t make it hard for themselves, might fall asleep.
A writer is in the broadest sense a spokesman of his community. Through him that community comes to know its heart. Without such knowledge, how long can it survive?
Our society, like decadent Rome, has turned into an amusement society, with writers chief among the court jesters.
A fool can throw a stone in a pond that 100 wise men can not get out.
I am a phoenix who runs after arsonists.
The only real distinction at this dangerous moment in human history and cosmic development has nothing to do with medals and ribbons. Not to fall asleep is distinguished. Everything else is mere popcorn.
Losing a parent is something like driving through a plate-glass window. You didn’t know it was there until it shattered, and then for years to come you’re picking up the pieces – down to the last glassy splinter.
Associate with the noblest people you can find; read the best books; live with the mighty; but learn to be happy alone.
Unexpected intrusions of beauty. This is what life is.
Goodness is achieved not in a vacuum, but in the company of other men, attended by love.
The stillness in art characterizes prayer, and the eye of the storm.
When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.
There is an immense, painful longing for a broader, more flexible, fuller, more coherent, more comprehensive account of what we human beings are, who we are and what this life is for.
We are funny creatures. We don’t see the stars as they are, so why do we love them? They are not small gold objects, but endless fire.
One thought-murder a day keeps the psychiatrist away.
What do women really want? They eat green salad and drink human blood.
A novel is balanced between a few true impressions and the multitude of false ones that make up most of what we call life.
It’s usually the selfish people who are loved the most. They do what you deny yourself, and you love them for it. You give them your heart.
In Los Angeles all the loose objects in the country were collected, as if America had been tilted and everything that wasn’t tightly screwed down had slid into Southern California.