A man is an island in the only sense that matters, not an easy way to be. We live in mystery, a cosmos of separate lonely bodies, men, insects, stars. It is all loneliness and men know it best.
A writer has to surprise himself to be worth reading.
A writer is a spectator, looking at everything with a highly critical eye.
As long as a man stays alive he can't tell what chances will pop up next. But a dead man signs no checks.
Charity you can give even when you haven't got.
For misery don't blame God. He gives the food but we cook it.
His worst fault is he thinks his brains entitle him to certain privileges.
I don't think you can do anything for anyone without giving up something of your own.
I love metaphor. It provides two loaves where there seems to be one. Sometimes it throws in a load of fish.
If you ever forget you are a Jew a goy will remind you.
If your train's on the wrong track every station you come to is the wrong station.
Life is a tragedy full of joy.
Mourning is a hard business... If people knew there'd be less death.
No use fanning up hot coals when you have to walk across them.
One can't make pure clay of time's mud. There is no life that can be recaptured wholly; as it was. Which is to say that all biography is ultimately fiction.
Suffering is what brings us toward happiness.
Teach yourself to work in uncertainty.
The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.
The purpose of freedom is to create it for others.
The wild begins where you least expect it, one step off your normal course.
There are no wrong books. What's wrong is the fear of them.
There comes a time in a man's life when to get where he has to- if there are no doors or windows- he walks through a wall.
They say God appeared in history and used it for his purposes, but if that was so he had no pity for men.
Those who write about life, reflect about life... you see in others who you are.
We have two lives... the life we learn with and the life we live with after that.
What suffering has taught me is the uselessness of suffering.
Where to look if you've lost your mind?
Without heroes, we're all plain people and don't know how far we can go.
You could not pity anything if you weren't a man; pity was a surprise to God. It was not his invention.
Found 29 occurence(s) in 52,059 quotation(s).
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