As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left us in a bad time.

Old age is a special problem for me because I've never been able to shed the mental image I have of myself - a lad of about 19.

The terror of the atom age is not the violence of the new power but the speed of man's adjustment to it, the speed of his acceptance.

Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down. Children are demanding. They are the most attentive, curious, eager, observant, sensitive, quick, and generally congenial readers on earth.... Children are game for anything. I throw them hard words and they backhand them across the net.

Whatever else an American believes or disbelieves about himself, he is absolutely sure he has a sense of humor.

A poem compresses much in a small space and adds music, thus heightening its meaning.

To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year.