If I had my life over again I should form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of death. I would practise, as it were, the remembrance of death. There is no other practice which so intensifies life. Death, when it approaches, ought not to take one by surprise. It should be part of the full expectancy of life. Without an ever-present sense of death life is insipid.

Goodness, Truth and Beauty come first

I'm old-fashioned beyond my years.

Interviews can be stimulating. It depends on the intelligence of the interviewer.

I have a great desire to make people smile - not laugh. Laughter is too aggressive. People bare their teeth.

No medicine man these days can afford to be without a portable tape recorder. Without the aid of this modern device, which may be easily concealed in the undergrowth of the jungle, the old tribal authority will rapidly become undermined by the mounting influenece of modern skepticism.

I see no reason to keep silent about my enjoyment of the sound of my own voice as I work.