..it's awful not to be loved. It's the worst thing in the world...It makes you mean, and violent, and cruel.

A dying organism is often observed to be capable of extraordinary endurance and strength. .. When any living organism is attacked, its whole function seems to aim towards reproduction.

Maybe it's true that we are all descended from the restless, the nervous, the criminals, the arguers and brawlers, but also the brave and independent and generous. If our ancestors had not been that, they would have stayed in their home plots in the other world and starved over the squeezed-out soil.

The free exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.

I nearly always write — just as I nearly always breathe.

In the streets of New York between seven and nine in the morning you will see the slow procession of dog and downer proceeding from street to tree to hydrant to trash basket. They are apartment dogs. They are taken out twice a day, and, while it is a cliché, it is truly amazing how owner and dog resemble each other. They grow to walk alike and have the same set of head.

Strength and success; they are above morality, above criticism. It seems then, that it is not what you do, but how you do it and what you call it.