Power acquired by guilt was never used for a good purpose. [Lat. , Imperium flagitio acquisitum nemo unquam bonis artibus exercuit. ]
Don't put anything into a story that does not reveal character or advance the action.
For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. "Blessed are the merciful" in a courtroom? "Blessed are the peacemakers" in the Pentagon? Give me a break!
Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before.
It's a terrible waste to be happy and not notice it.
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
The secret to success in any human endeavor is total concentration.
To make the world safe for those who own it, politically active elements of the owning class have created a national security state that expends billions of dollars and enlists the efforts of vast numbers of people.
Everything is expressed through RELATIONSHIPS.
A writer never finds the time to write. A writer makes it. If you don't have the drive, the discipline, and the desire, then you can have all the talent in the world, and you aren't going to finish a book.
Most recently, the President's reluctance to offend Senator Rick Santorum -- a Catholic theocrat who believes that states should have the power to arrest gay lovers in their bedrooms, or even to criminalize couples who use contraceptives -- was an occasion to wonder what, exactly, Mr. Bush was born-again into.