All through my young life I wanted to sing, although nobody in my family knew it.
Many exceedingly rich men are unhappy, but many middling circumstances are fortunate.
The secret of success is that it is not the absence of failure, but the absence of envy.
Men trust their ears less than their eyes.
If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.
Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have laid dormant in its absence.
Where wisdom is called for, force is of little use.
We cannot fulfill that purpose [environmentalism] if we are heaping contempt on God's creation.
Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another for there will always be others whose lives on the face of it appear better. However just remember and focus on the fact that your life could be much worse and be grateful it isn't. No matter what others or even you may briefly think you are lucky things aren't worse so be grateful.
A novelist can shift view-point if it comes off. . . . Indeed, this power to expand and contract perception (of which the shifting view-point is a symptom), this right to intermittent knowledge - I find one of the great advantages of the novel-form. . . this intermittence lends in the long run variety and colour to the experiences we receive.
I eat green ants often enough. They are wonderful. The trick is to squash them before you eat them, otherwise they bite your tongue and it ruins the experience.