The mind of a little child is fascinating, for it looks on old things with new eyes-but at about twelve this changes. The adolescent offers nothing, can do nothing, say nothing that the adult cannot do better.

Sometimes I think that idlers seem to be a special class for whom nothing can be planned, plead as one will with them - their only contribution to the human family is to warm a seat at the common table.

If you're strong enough, there are no precedents.

The cleverly expressed opposite of any generally accepted idea is worth a fortune to somebody.

First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.

In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning, day after day.

There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired.

The victor belongs to the spoils.

And after reading Thoreau I felt how much I have lost by leaving nature out of my life.