That old man dies prematurely whose memory records no benefits conferred. They only have lived long who have lived virtuously.

Literature has drawn a funny perimeter that other art forms haven't.

Jonathan Safran Foer

I do love perusing the dictionary to find how many words I don't use - words that have specific, sharp, focused meaning. I also love the sound of certain words. I love the sound of the word pom-pom.

Geoffrey Rush

War is never a solution; it is an aggravation.

Benjamin Disraeli

Good for the body is the work of the body, good for the soul is the work of the soul, and good for either is the work of the other.

Henry David Thoreau

It is the true office of history to represent the events themselves, together with the counsels, and to leave the observations and conclusions thereupon to the liberty and faculty of every man's judgment.

Francis Bacon

I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.

Woody Allen

Everybody now admits that apartheid was wrong, and all I did was tell the people who wanted to know where I come from how we lived in South Africa. I just told the world the truth. And if my truth then becomes political, I can't do anything about that.

Miriam Makeba

What you are is a man who means to be good, and undo the bad he's done, and that's as good as any man ever gets.

Orson Scott Card

Tyler rolls out of bed, sniffs the armpits of yesterday's T-shirt, tosses it aside, gets another out of the drawer. His dad sometimes asks him why he sets his alarm so early -- it's summer vacation, after all -- and Tyler can't seem to make him understand that every day is important, especially those filled with warmth and sunlight and no particular responsibilities. It's as if there's some little voice deep inside him, warning him not to waste a minute, not a single one, because time is short.

Stephen King

The inequalities are greater now than in '92. Some states have equalized per-pupil spending but they set the 'equal level' very low, so that wealthy districts simply raise extra money privately.

Jonathan Kozol

It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you - always.

Oprah Winfrey

One knows so well the popular idea of health. The English country gentleman galloping after a fox -- the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

Oscar Wilde