For this is the journey that men and women make, to find themselves. If they fail in this, it doesn't matter much else what they find.

I had learned volleyball in the Navy, where all the captains and admirals wanted to be spikers, and I found then that a man who can subdue his own desires and master the art of serving others can make himself invaluable. In choosing sides the team captain always chose the good spikers on the first and second choice, but then the spikers would grab his arm and whisper, 'Take Michener.' I was never chosen lower than third, because I was needed. I wasn't good, but I was faithful.

I do believe that everyone growing up faces differential opportunities. With me, it was books and travel and some good teachers.

We are never prepared for what we expect.

There are no insoluble problems. Only time-consuming ones.

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

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.