They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free society.

There is need for some kind of make-believe in order to face death unflinchingly. To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for.

Men weary as much of not doing the things they want to do as of doing the things they do not want to do.

A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business.

The sense of inferiority inherent in the act of imitation breeds resentment. The impulse of the imitators is to overcome the model they imitate.

My writing is done in railroad yards while waiting for a freight, in the fields while waiting for a truck, and at noon after lunch. Towns are too distracting.

The nature of a society is largely determined by the direction in which talent and ambition flow - by the tilt of the social landscape.