When I was a child I used to read books by Gerald Durrell, who founded Jersey Zoo. He had a job collecting animals for zoos and for a long time that is what I wanted to do. Later when I was a teenager I had a fantastic English teacher called Mrs. Stafford. Her enthusiasm made me decide to be a writer.

We should try to create the society we would want if we didn't know in advance who we'd be.

Paul Krugman

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have.

Thomas Alva Edison

It is the sign of a dull mind to dwell upon the cares of the body, to prolong exercise, eating and drinking, and other bodily functions. These things are best done by the way; all your attention must be given to the mind.

Epictetus

Don't buy the house, buy the neighborhood.

Proverb

It's not beauty but fine qualities, my girl, that keep a husband.

Euripides

Hollywood is a place that attracts people with massive holes in their souls.

Julia Phillips

It is dangerous sending a young man who is beautiful to Oxford.

Dudley Ryder

That's life. Whichever way you turn, fate sticks out a foot to trip you.

Martin Goldsmith

Even the humblest Party member is expected to be competent, industrious, and even intelligent within narrow limits, but it is also necessary that he should be a credulous and ignorant fanatic whose prevailing moods are fear, hatred, adulation, and orgiastic triumph. In other words it is necessary that he should have the mentality appropriate to a state of war. It does not matter whether the war is actually happening, and, since no decisive victory is possible, it does not matter whether the war is going well or badly. All that is needed is that a state of war should exist.

George Orwell

Truth never hurts the teller.

Robert Browning

San Francisco businesses face many challenges, including high rents, regulatory burdens, and the rising cost of workers compensation insurance and employee health plans.

Gavin Newsom