most of our social and educational institutions are designed to weed out or make over people ... until we produce a world where everyone is a smart, quick-witted, aggressive person living on the surface of the mind without ever looking into the depths.

Wouldn't it be kinder to say that a lie is a short work of fiction? 'A story' as my daughter says?

Every criminal leaves psychic fingerprints. And he can't wear gloves to hide them.

the true and the plausible are rarely the same.

At twenty your choices are almost unlimited. At fifty you're a prisoner of past decisions. At seventy you have no free will left at all.

That's the worst thing about money - the moment you have some you begin to suspect everyone of trying to take it away from you. And usually they are.

Money is an acquired taste. But, once acquired, it becomes an addiction.