One of the very few reasons I had any respect for my mother when I was thirteen was because she would reach into the sink with her bare hands - bare hands - and pick up that lethal gunk and drop it into the garbage. To top that, I saw her reach into the wet garbage bag and fish around in there looking for a lost teaspoon. Bare hands - a kind of mad courage.

I've always thought anyone can make money. Making a life worth living, that's the real test.

Life is lumpy. And a lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat, and a lump in a breast are not the same lump. One should learn the difference.

It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need, and our air force has to have a bake-sale to buy a bomber.

Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there at the sandpile at Sunday School.

The Sikh gave him the money. When Menon asked for his address so that he could repay the man, the Sikh said that Menon owed the debt to any stranger who came to him in need, as long as he lived. The help came from a stranger and was to be repaid to a stranger.

I once listed all the good things I did over the past year, and then turned them into resolution form and backdated them. That was a good feeling