“A man asking for help ought to at least give directions.”

Conventional history completely ignores half the human race.

A fondness for martyrdom, especially of the verbal variety, is common to the young.

Money was the manure of politics.

Love has a very dulling effect on the brain

Your trousers are on fire. I would have told you, but you so dislike advice.

The combination of physical strength and moral sincerity combined with tenderness of heart is exactly what is wanted in a husband.–Ameila Peabody

Getting an idea for a book is not the problem, but you need 300 ideas – an idea a page.

You are softening toward the young rascal because he is ill, and because he says he likes cats.” “It is an engaging quality, Emerson.” “That depends,” said Emerson darkly, “on how he likes them.

No woman really wants a man to carry her off; she only wants him to want to do it.

Writing is like a bird-watcher watching for birds: the stories are there: you just have to train yourself to look for them.

I never meant to marry. In my opinion, a woman born in the last half of the nineteenth century of the Christian era suffered from enough disadvantages without willfully embracing another.

Nefret had always had an uncanny ability to read his thoughts. ‘Did she cry?’ she asked sweetly. ‘And then you kissed her? You shouldn’t have done that. I’m sure you meant well, but kissing someone out of pity is always a mistake.

Dogs can be made to feel guilty about anything, including the sins of their owners. Cats refuse to take the blame for anything – including their own sins.

Loving someone condemns you to a lifetime of fear. You become painfully conscious of how fragile people are – bundles of brittle bones and vulnerable flesh, breeding grounds for billions of deadly germs and horrible diseases.

I do not scruple to employ mendacity and a fictitious appearance of female incompetence when the occasion demands it.

Superstition has its practical uses.

I think it’s pointless asking questions like “Will humanity survive?” It’s purely up to people – if they want to, they can, if they don’t want to, they won’t.

We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life.

One guy just kept asking me and asking me in an interview, and I kept saying, “I just got done telling you no, there’s nothing to report.”

Asking politicians to vote themselves out of power is like asking rabbits not to multiply, it ain’t natural.

You are asking yourself, as all of us must: ‘Who am I?’ . . . ‘Where am I?’ . . . ‘Whence do I go?’ The process of enlightenment is usually slow. But, in the end, our seeking always brings a finding. These great mysteries are, after all, enshrined in complete simplicity.

The fundamental thing about sketching is that it isabout asking not telling

You curate information that you want to receive. It’s a lot different because I’m not asking you if it’s okay, I’m just saying I’m following your updates. That’s why I don’t think of Twitter as a social network.

We keep asking for answers; God keeps sending us people.