“Sometimes the Bible in the hands of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hands of another.”

As a reader I loathe introductions…Introductions inhibit pleasure, they kill the joy of anticipation, they frustrate curiosity.

Ladies pick funny things to be proud of.

I’m still old-fashioned. I love dusty old books and libraries.

As you grow up, always tell the truth, do no harm to others, and don’t think you are the most important being on earth. Rich or poor, you then can look anyone in the eye and say, ‘I’m probably no better than you, but I’m certainly your equal.

When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness sake. But don’t make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion faster than adults, and evasion simply muddles ’em.

Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself.

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.

Things are never as bad as they seem.

We’re paying the highest tribute you can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It’s that simple.

Bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they’re not attracting attention with it.

I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.

I do much of my creative thinking while golfing. If people know you’re working at home they think nothing of walking in for a cup of coffee, but wouldn’t dream of interrupting on the golf course.

Are you proud of yourself tonight that you have insulted a total stranger whose circumstances you know nothing about?

Everybody’s gotta learn, nobody’s born knowing.

Summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screeneed porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the treehouse; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a parched landscape.

I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.

Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar.

The sort of words a man says is the sort he hears in return.

The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master.

Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.

A small knowledge of human nature will convince us, that, with far the greatest part of mankind, interest is the governing principle; and that almost every man is more or less, under its influence.

If man is to be liberated to enjoy more leisure, he must also be prepared to enjoy this leisure fully and creatively.

I want every young man who sees me to know that I’m not that different from them. I wasn’t born into wealth. I wasn’t born into fame. I made a lot of mistakes – but I kept at it.

How can you thank a man for giving you what’s already yours? How then can you thank him for giving you only part of what is yours?