Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

The sad ones are those who waste their energy in trying to hold it back, for they can only feel bitterness in loss and no joy in gain.

In my heart there may be doubt that I deserve the Nobel award over other men of letters whom I hold in respect and reverence, but there is no question of my pleasure and pride in having it for myself.

It’s all fine to say, “Time will heal everything, this too shall pass away. People will forget”—and things like that when you are not involved, but when you are there is no passage of time, people do not forget and you are in the middle of something that does not change.

The first grave. Now we're getting someplace. Houses and children and graves, that's home, Tom. Those are the things that hold a man down.

There's a capacity for appetite... that a whole heaven and earth of cake can't satisfy

When I was very young and the urge to be someplace was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch.