Many [of the Americans] polled showed a marked disapproval of the Wallonians, Danerians, and Pirenians. The fact that these minorities were invented by the pollster did not diminish the hostility.

Hope is ambiguous, but fear is precious.

Her cooking suggested she had attended the Cordon Noir.

First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people.

Everyone, in some small sacred sanctuary of the self, is nuts.

I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.

Money can't buy happiness, but neither can poverty.