“The Frenchman works until he can play. The American works until he cant play; and then thanks the devil, his master, that he is donkey enough to die in harness. But the Englishman, as he has since ...”

“England and the English governing class never did call on this absurd deity of race until it seemed, for an instant, that they had no other god to call on the truth of the whole matter is very simp...”

“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.”

“To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.”

“There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.”

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”

“Some experiences are universal. A girl is a girl whether she lives in West Omaha or Sweet Valley. Books are often far more than books.”

“A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.”

“The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,And all the sweet serenity of books”

“But some characters in books are really real--Jane Austen's are; and I know those five Bennets at the opening of Pride and Prejudice, simply waiting to raven the young men at Netherfield Park, are ...”

“You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are.”

“A novel must show how the world truly is, how characters genuinely think, how events actually occur. A novel should somehow reveal the true source of our actions.”

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

“If I am going to be drownedif I am going to be drownedif I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and t...”

“I'm an Earth ecstatic, and my creed is simple: All life is sacred, life loves life, and we are capable of improving our behavior toward one another. As basic as that is, for me it's also tonic and ...”