Archives - July 2008

There's an old saying about those who forget history. I don't remember it, but it's good.

Person to person, moment to moment, as we love, we change the world.

To be content with what one has is the greatest and truest of riches.

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.

Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?

That's the secret to life... replace one worry with another....

I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.

You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.

Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords.

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them.

I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.

With the gift of listening comes the gift of healing.

Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.

Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.

Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.

Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.

Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone.

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.

Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.

My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch on fire or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one cares. Why should you?

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through.

There is nothing in the world more powerful than an idea. No weapon can destroy it; no power can conquer it except the power of another idea.

I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.

Never go out to meet trouble. If you will just sit still, nine cases out of ten someone will intercept it before it reaches you.

Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you.

A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece.

The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well.

A friend is a second self.