Two hundred or more years ago most people on the planet were never aware of any reality other than the one into which they were brought up.

I get up around 6:30. I work from about 8:00 to 1:00, take a break for lunch, work again until about 5:00, and then go for a long walk and have dinner. Then, if my wife and I have no previous plans, we decide what to do for the evening.

A book is sent out into the world, and there is no way of fully anticipating the responses it will elicit. Consider the responses called forth by the Bible, Homer, Shakespeare - let alone contemporary poetry or a modern novel.

As you grow older you will discover that the most important things that will happen to you will often come as a result of silly things, as you call them --"ordinary things" is a better expression. That is the way the world is.

A word is worth one coin, silence is worth two

I've begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own.

As a species we are always hungry for new knowledge.