When the philosopher's argument becomes tedious, complicated, and opaque, it is usually a sign that he is attempting to prove as true to the intellect what is plainly false to common sense.

In the Soviet Union, government controls industry. In the United States, industry controls government. That is the principal structural difference between the two great oligarchies of our time.

Girls, like flowers, bloom but once. But once is enough.

Writing on the wall: Will trade three blind crabs for two with no teeth.

Married couples who quarrel bitterly every day may really need each other as deeply as those who appear to be desperately in love.

I wait. Now the night flows back, the mighty stillness embraces and includes me; I can see the stars again and the world of starlight. I am twenty miles or more from the nearest fellow human, but instead of loneliness I feel loveliness. Loveliness and a quiet exultation.

You cannot reshape human nature without mutilating human beings.