I was as afraid as the next man in my time and maybe more so. But with the years, fear had come to be regarded as a form of stupidity to be classed with overdrafts, acquiring a venereal disease or eating candies. Fear is a child's vice and while I loved to feel it approach, as one does with any vice, it was not for grown men and the only thing to be afraid of was the presence of true and imminent danger in a form that you should be aware of and not be a fool if you were responsible for others.

One cat just leads to another." [Letter from Finca Vigia, Cuba, to his first wife, Elizabeth Hadley Richardson (1943).]

You must be prepared to work always without applause.

He was just a coward and that was the worst luck any many could have.

There is no friend as loyal as a book.

But you always fall for somebody else and then it's all right. Fall for them but don't let them ruin you.

Remember everything is right until it's wrong. You'll know when it's wrong.