The hard rain nailed the night to the city.

Every human being has appetites difficult to control but far fewer have humility, gentleness, and an awareness of their weaknesses.

The geometry of judgment is a circle. Hate is a snake that turns to consume itself from the tail, a circle that diminishes to a point, then to nothing. Pride is such a snake, and envy, and greed. Love, however, is a hoop, a wheel, that rolls on forever. We are rescued by those whom we have rescued. The saved become the saviors of their saviors.

Life's mysterious, strange, and full of wonders - and only a fool withdraws from it willingly and lets it pass him by.

He once told me that an August evening was "as hot as three toads in a Cuisinart," a comparison that left me blinking two days later.

In a crunch a man's reputation never counts for as much as it ought to.

No degree of prosperity can be sufficient to eliminate all misfortune, and sloth is impervious to opportunity.