A good philosopher is one who does not take ideas seriously.

Suicide: Don't knock it if you ain't tried it.

There is beauty, heartbreaking beauty, everywhere.

Civilization, like an airplane in flight, survives only as it keeps going forward.

Anyone not paranoid in this world must be crazy. . . . Speaking of paranoia, it's true that I do not know exactly who my enemies are. But that of course is exactly why I'm paranoid.

Every man should be his own guru; every woman her own gurette.

Late in August the lure of the mountains becomes irresistible. Seared by the everlasting sunfire, I want to see running water again, embrace a pine tree, cut my initials in the bark of an aspen, get bit by a mosquito, see a mountain bluebird, find a big blue columbine, get lost in the firs, hike above timberline, sunbathe on snow and eat some ice, climb the rocks and stand in the wind at the top of the world on the peak of Tukuhnikivats.