“Never confuse activity with action.”

Actually that’s my secret — I can’t even talk about you to anybody because I don’t want any more people to know how wonderful you are.

For what it’s worth, it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.

The reason one writes isn’t the fact he wants to say something. He writes because he has something to say.

The world, as a rule, does not live on beaches and in country clubs.

You really ought to read more books – you know, those things that look like blocks but come apart on one side.

Experience is the name so many people give to their mistakes.

Celibacy goes deeper than the flesh.

I suppose books mean more than people to me anyway

You see I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad things that happened to me.

It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.

To be kind is more important than to be right. Many times, what people need is not a brilliant mind that speaks but a special heart that listens.

You remind me of a smoked cigarette.

There’s no substitute for will. Sometimes you have to fake will when you don’t feel it at all.

You are the finest, loveliest, tenderest, and most beautiful person I have ever known—and even that is an understatement.

There are all kinds of love in this world but never the same love twice.

Rhetoric is not important. Actions are.

It is not enough to be compassionate, we must act.

Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.

A body in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted on by an outside force.

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

Great acts are made up of small deeds.

Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.

Climate change: I say the debate is over. We know the science, we see the threat and we know that the time for action is now.