But nothing seems to do any good.

Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency.

Without magic, there is no art. Without art, there is no idealism. Without idealism, there is no integrity. Without integrity, there is nothing but production.

If you believe in an idea, you don't own you, it owns you.

There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.

The average detective story is probably no worse than the average novel, but you never see the average novel. It doesn't get published. The average -- or only slightly above average -- detective story does.... Whereas the good novel is not at all the same kind of book as the bad novel. It is about entirely different things. But the good detective story and the bad detective story are about exactly the same things, and they are about them in very much the same way.

I always find what I want. But when I find it, I don't want it any more.