Russia, France, Germany and China. They revere their writers. America is still a frontier country that almost shudders at the idea of creative expression.

...when men ignite in their hearts a religious fury, they inflict at the same time a blindness on their eyes.

a soldier lives always for the next battle, because he knows that before it arrives impossible changes can occur in his favor.

I was once asked if I'd like to meet the president of a certain country. I said, "No, but I'd love to meet some sheepherders." The sheepherders, farmers and taxi drivers are often the most interesting people.

No idea is ever dead until those who believe in it say it's dead.

The rules seem to be these: If you have written a successful novel, everyone invites you to write short stories. If you have written some good short stories, everyone wants you to write a novel. But nobody wants anything until you have already proved yourself by being published somewhere else.

The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.