To be human : to strive in the face of the certainty of failure.

And I'm a pair of pants with a hole scorched through the ass?

It took me better than a quarter century to learn, the hard way, that hard work at something you want to be doing is the most fun that you can have out of bed . . . to learn that the smart man finds ways to make everything he does be work; to learn that "leisure" time is truly pleasurable (indeed tolerable) only to the extent that is its subconscious grazing for information with which to infuse newer, better work.

Librarians are like crack dealers when it comes to hooking small children.

The whole world turns upside down in ten years, but you turn upside down with it.

And there's this place called college! I mean, they want you to care, dig it, care about this education trip, and they don't care enough themselves to make it as attractive as the crap game across the street!

Time didn't pass; it tailgated.