I lay in the dark thinking about the difficulties of family, how crazy and crooked the stories of a bloodline can be.

He is not bad, I don't think. Perhaps he is simply too lazy to be good.

I will never be a leader of men, and neither do I want to be one, and neither do I want to be led. I thought: I want to lead only myself.

It is hard to find a friend,' I said. 'It is the hardest thing in this world,' he agreed.

Work will drive you crazy if you let it.

He only wished to fight and cultivate an anger toward me, thus alleviating his guilt, but I would not abet him in this.

Luck was something you either earned or invented through strength of character. You had to come by it honestly; you could not trick or bluff your way into it.