To ponder is not to brood or grieve or even meditate. It is to wonder at a deep level.

Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.

One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you’ve got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference.

The best feelings in your life come when you start feeling good after you've been feeling just awful

The name is not important anymore - it's the tone that counts. I feel like an old dog I know. He will come to any name you call him, just so long as your demeanor carries with it the promise of affection and food

The winding down of summer puts me in a heavy philosophical mood.

Clean up your own mess.