Every word was a singing sparrow, a magic trick, a truffle for me. The words made me laugh in delight.

What time has ever been a simple time for those who are living it?

I'm a pleaser. That's my character.

You can butcher the sheep only once. But if you are careful, you can shear the sheep every year.

And when you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt - this is not selfishness, but obligation. You were given life; it is your duty to find something beautiful within life no matter how slight.

Man is a demon, man is a god. Both true.

Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.