Our classes were relatively small. Those small classes can feel like family. After a class in French or chemistry or whatever, we'd be talking in the halls about what we just learned.

I now believe that the only way in which Americans can rise above their ordinariness, can mature sufficiently to rescue themselves and to help rescue their planet, is through enthusiastic intimacy with works of their own imagination.

I couldn't help wondering if that was what God put me on Earth for--to find out how much a man could take without breaking.

The most racist, nastiest act by America, after human slavery, was the bombing of Nagasaki. Not of Hiroshima, which might have had some military significance. But Nagasaki was purely blowing away yellow men, women, and children. I'm glad I'm not a scientist because I'd feel so guilty now.

Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.

Anything can make me stop and look and wonder, and sometimes learn.

The slaves were simply turned loose without any property. They were easily recognizable. They were black. They were suddenly free to go exploring.