The dog is a yes-animal. Very popular with people who can't afford a yes man.

If you don't hurry up and let life know what you want, life will damned soon show you what you'll get.

To instruct calls for energy, and to remain almost silent, but watchful and helpful, while students instruct themselves, calls for even greater energy. To see someone fall (which will teach him not to fall again) when a word from you would keep him on his feet but ignorant of an important danger, is one of the tasks of the teacher that calls for special energy, because holding in is more demanding than crying out.

The egotist is all surface; underneath is a pulpy mess and a lot of self-doubt. But the egoist may be yielding and even deferential in things he doesn't consider important; in anything that touches his core he is remorseless.

If I had my way books would not be written in English but in an exceedingly difficult secret language.... This plan would have the advantage of scaring off all amateur authors, retired politicians, country doctors...who would not have the patience to learn the secret language.

I still have trouble identifying grammatical structures by name, though I know them as matters of usage.

There is absolutely no point in sitting down to write a book unless you feel that you must write that book, or else go mad, or die.