All of them, all except Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to themselves these Maginot Lines against this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way-if he ever attacked at all; if he was indeed the enemy.

Nothing endures. Not a tree. Not love. Not even death by violence.

Never say you are five feet nine when you are five feet eight and a half" was the first one I encountered. Another was, "Always say some prayers at night because it might turn out that there is a God.

This was the tree, and it seemed to me standing there to resemble those men, the giants of your childhood, whom you encounter years later and find that they are not merely smaller in relation to your growth, but they are absolutely smaller, shrunken by age. In this double demotion the old giants have become pygmies while you were looking the other way.

I knew that part of friendship consisted in accepting a friend’s shortcomings, which sometimes included his parents.

Sarcasm is the protest of the weak.

You have to do what you think is the right thing, but just make sure it’s the right thing in the long run, and not just for the moment.