My lady had the body of a siren, the face of a goddess, and the mind of an Armenian camel dealer.

Long ago I learned nothing gets done by just wishing it. You have to do it.

I am somebody. I am me. And I don't need anybody to make me somebody.

I have read my books by many lights, hoarding their beauty, their wit or wisdom against the dark days when I would have no book, nor a place to read. I have known hunger of the belly kind many times over, but I have known a worse hunger: the need to know and to learn.

After a few days, I mused, I would have no trouble. Whoever heard of a revolution of fat men?

I'm like a big old hen. I can't cluck too long about the egg I've just laid because I've got 5 more inside me pushing to get out.

To die is nothing. One is here, one is no longer here. It is only at the end one must be able to say 'I was a man'.