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

I have been nothing, but there is tomorrow.

Ancestry is most important to those who have done nothing themselves.

Without books we should very likely be a still-primitive people living in the shadow of traditions that faded with years until only a blur remained, and different memories would remember the past in different ways. A parent or a teacher has only his lifetime; a good book can teach forever.Without books we should very likely be a still-primitive people living in the shadow of traditions that faded with years until only a blur remained, and different memories would remember the past in different ways. A parent or a teacher has only his lifetime; a good book can teach forever.

Only one who has learned much can fully appreciate his ignorance.

A writer's brain is like a magician's hat. If you're going to get anything out of it, you have to put something in it first.

The key to understanding any people is in its art: its writing, painting, sculpture.