“There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.”

Time and tide will wait for no man, saith the adage. But all men have to wait for time and tide.

For not an orphan in the wide world can be so deserted as the child who is an outcast from a living parent’s love.

Family not only need to consist of merely those whom we share blood, but also for those whom we’d give blood.

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else.

The worst of all listeners is the man who does nothing but listen.

I will live in the past, the present, and the future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me.

Love, though said to be afflicted with blindness, is a vigilant watchman.

I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.

We can refute assertions, but who can refute silence?

One should never be ashamed to cry. Tears are rain on the dust of earth.

Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

We lawyers are always curious, always inquisitive, always picking up odds and ends for our patchwork minds, since there is no knowing when and where they may fit into some corner.

There are strings in the human heart that had better not be vibrated.

Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.

There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.

Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.

I wanna be the best at what I do. I wanna sing, I wanna dance, I wanna act. That’s about it.

It is no longer possible for lyric poetry to express the immensity of our experience. Life has grown too cumbersome, too complicated. We have acquired values which are best expressed in prose.

I don’t feel I made any sacrifices at all. I’m doing my best to juggle.

My music is best understood by children and animals.

The best way to hold on to something is to pay no attention to it. The things you love too much perish. You have to treat everything with irony, especially the things you hold dear. There’s more of a chance then that they’ll survive.

Worry and fear did their best to sway her, but she was too preoccupied with truth.

All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality – the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape.

The mirrors in your mind can reflect the best of yourself, not the worst of someone else.