“Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.”

Habits are like comfortable beds. They are easy to get into, but difficult to get out of.

Losers make promises they often break. Winners make commitments they always keep.

The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.

Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future,and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now.

A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside.

Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence.

Commitment doesn’t guarantee success, but lack of commitment guarantees you’ll fall far short of your potential.

We are supposed to forgive everyone; everyone includes ourselves.

Accept yourself as you are right now; an imperfect, changing, growing and worthy person.

What you leave in your children, is more important than what you leave to them.

You must learn from your past mistakes, but not lean on your past successes.

You are an uncut gemstone of priceless value. Cut and polish your potential with knowledge, skills and service and you will be in great demand throughout your life.

That which you create in beauty and goodness and truth lives on for all time to come. Don’t spend your life accumulating material objects that will only turn to dust and ashes.

Don’t ‘take care’, take a risk!

Losers let it happen; winners make it happen!

Make certain that your goals are not measured in comparison with others.

At most, I may write when I am disturbed by something. I have recently discovered the pleasure of finding written answers to written questions.

Nora: i have questions. Patch: i should have known you’ve only been keeping me around for answers. Nora: well, that and your kisses. Anyone ever tell you you’re an incredible kisser?

There are no right answers to wrong questions.

I can’t answer either question. But the look she gives me reminds me of the look in the attack dog’s eyes in the aptitude test – a vicious, predatory stare. She wants to rip me to pieces. I can’t lie down in submission now. I have become an attack dog too.

Don’t make me regret this” i said, breathless. ” you haven’t regretted me once”. He kissed me, and i answered so hungrily i thought my lips would bruise. Patch&nora ( p. 180)

Indeed the measure of our intellectual maturity, one philosopher suggests, is our capacity to feel less and less satisfied with our answers to better problems.

What is the other text, the original? I have no answer. I suppose it is the source, the deep sea where ideas swim, and one catches them in nets of words and swings them shining into the boat… where in this metaphor they die and get canned and eaten in sandwiches.

One of the pleasures of reading old letters is the knowledge that they need no answer.