You will turn over many a futile new leaf till you learn we must all write on scratched-out pages.

Family quarrels have a total bitterness unmatched by others. Yet it sometimes happens that they also have a kind of tang, a pleasantness beneath the unpleasantness, based on the tacit understanding that this is not for keeps; that any limb you climb out on will still be there later for you to climb back.

We cough because we can't help it, but others do it on purpose.

Every day of our lives we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference.

Hot dogs always seem better out than at home; so do French-fried potatoes; so do your children.

The neurotic's strongest fantasy is that he has no fantasies. The real is very real to him, the unreal even more so.

No matter how many Christmas presents you give your child, there's always that terrible moment when he's opened the very last one. That's when he expects you to say, 'Oh yes, I almost forgot,' and take him out and show him the pony.