A thousand people drowned in floods in China are news: a solitary child drowned in a pond is tragedy.

A thousand people drowned in floods in China are news: a solitary child drowned in a pond is tragedy.

Fasting was good for the imagination but bad for logic.

Riches ... don't consist in having things, but in not having to do something you don't want to do. ... Riches is being able to thumb your nose.

He knew by heart every last minute crack on its surface. He had made maps of the ceiling and gone exploring on them; rivers, islands, and continents. He had made guessing games of it and discovered hidden objects; faces, birds, and fishes. He made mathematical calculations of it and rediscovered his childhood; theorems, angles, and triangles. There was practically nothing else he could do but look at it. He hated the sight of it.

If you think about the unthinkable long enough it becomes quite reasonable.

There were people whose only interest in life was writing letters. To the newspapers, to authors, to strangers, to City Councils, to the police. It did not much matter to whom; the satisfaction of writing seemed to be all.