Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.

“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.”

Isn’t it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes for thousands of years.

It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling.

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”