Charles Dickens was an avid seeker of names - he read directories and looked for odd names on gravestones.

How will you know a good farmer when you meet him? He will not ask you for any favors.

Is human nature basically good or evil? No economist can embark upon his profession without considering this question, and yet they all seem to. And they all seem to think human nature is basically good, or they wouldn't be surprised by the effects of deregulation.

You know what getting married is? It's agreeing to taking this person who right now is at the top of his form, full of hopes and ideas, feeling good, looking good, wildly interested in you because you're the same way, and sticking by him while he slowly disintegrates. And he does the same for you. You're his responsibility now and he's yours. If no one else will take care of him, you will. If everyone else rejects you, he won't. What do you think love is? Going to bed all the time?

Write every day, just to keep in the habit, and remember that whatever you have written is neither as good nor as bad as you think it is. Just keep going, and tell yourself that you will fix it later.

I had spent years thinking about one thing while I was doing another. I had, in fact, prided myself on being able to do two things at once.

Men are competent in groups that mimic the playground, incompetent in groups that mimic the family