Whoever mourns the dead mourns himself.

Two things remain irretrievable: time and a first impression.

The imagination is a species of knowledge, knowledge that can take the form of discovery.

To listen acutely is to be powerless, even if you sit on a throne.

Travelers are fantasists, conjurers, seers - and what they finally discover is that every round object everywhere is a crystal ball: stone, teapot, the marvelous globe of the human eye.

We have had, alas, and still have, the doubtful habit of reverence. Above all, we respect things as they are.

When something does not insist on being noticed, when we aren't grabbed by the collar or struck on the skull by a presence or an event, we take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.