Of all the excellent teachers of college English whom I have known I have never discovered one who knew precisely what he was doing. Therein have lain their power and their charm.

Suffering without understanding in this life is a heap worse than suffering when you have at least the grain of an idea what it's all for.

Of all the excellent teachers of college English whom I have known I have never discovered one who knew precisely what he was doing. Therein have lain their power and their charm.

Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind.

Manual labor to my father was not only good and decent for it's own sake but, as he was given to saying, it straightened out one's thoughts.

Even one's yesterdays could not continue to stir and move in a man's mind unless there were a future for those yesterdays to make.

Whatever laudable qualities the English may possess in their selection, preparation, and consumption of food, elegance, originality, diversity, and imagination are not among them.