"It’s marvelous when you think of words. If you just think of any one word, not just thinking about how it came about in the expression, but just what your mouth does to pronounce that word (1968)"

"Infinity and eternity are the limits of imagination. You can project your imagination into the past or into the future; you can destroy an old image that has troubled you or create a new one that will rejoice you."

"focus your mind and respect your body. But mostly love your heart. I think that is where to begin, from there and then it goes out...Love your heart. It really is to love yourself to begin with and help everybody else in doing the same. But the heart being the center. You can focus your mind. You can respect your body. All of that is important. Then if you love your heart, this can be transmitted to other people. I mean you can help anybody that wants to do the same."

"this transformation is really the key now, isn’t it, to our living: to be able to transform. (1968)"

"the garden rewards me for my efforts. Red and yellow roses lift their faces to me, and the grass is green. Everything wants to live and to thrive. It’s a Jewish garden, with a little of this and a little of that. Everything comes together harmoniously."

"At times I feel very pessimistic—for whom are we writing? Then I think of you—you, who give so much and receive so little, who go on with your work—and in Yiddish! Who am I to complain? bl"

"Annie is an ignorant girl, who can barely sign her name. But even she can feel the music in her head. ("A Cut")"

"They played some sad melody that drifted in through the window keeping people awake half the night. Some sadness would then grip the heart so you wouldn't know what it was you wanted."

"We should train ourselves in the use of imagination when we are well, so that we are ready to use it when we are not."

"Don’t worry that at the moment you’re not writing. Live a little! Nothing will be lost—it will come back to you with interest when you’re back at your desk"

"The unwritten letters are the most interesting; they come spontaneously, straight from the heart, and swim away with all the unwritten stories, the uninvented poems."

"we must want not to be the target. There is a widespread though subterranean feeling that to be made to suffer to be a victim- is somehow an admirable position on earth and a good ticket to a special place in heaven...If you know that you carry this belief in your own mind, ask yourself this question: When do I do the most good for myself and for others: When I am suffering-Or when I am happy?"

"Although we would not consider ourselves the target of a hurricane or a tidal wave, we often feel we are the victims of meteorological disturbances in the minds of other people. Sometimes it is true; people are trying to hurt us. But most of the time they are merely exploding, and we happen to be nearby-a conveniant substitute for their real target."

"Scientific research is the art of asking the right question in the right way."

"each of us has a choice. We can passively take our place in the negative chain, accepting the harm to ourselves and passing it on to others. Or we can break the chain and turn the energy of a destructive emotion into a constructive action. Energy is neutral. It is what we do with it that makes it destructive or creative, harmful or healing."

"It is against our ethical principles as human beings to harm others. But aside from ethics, it is against our self-interest. The neurosis we cultivate in others inevitably rebounds against ourselves. From heavy-handed authority resentment and rebellion will develop. From sexual repression or dissatisfaction, anger, nervous tension and its consequences will arise."

"This is a part of living, part of the interrelatedness of human beings. We cannot live in a world of people and avoid the storms of their disagreeable and painful emotions any more than we can avoid the weather. But we can avoid this feeling of being the target for them. We can even turn the unpleasant encounters to our own good use."

"Self-questioning is a first step on the path to self-awareness. And this awareness is a precondition for making the most of our lives. It is our protection against unnecessary mental suffering and physical illness, and our aid in coping with these when they cannot be avoided. Being aware is the way toward finding fulfillment in our relationships with others, of bringing all our store of healthy energy to living and working."

"Often a question, the first one, is not the real question at all but a substitute which our unconscious self has artfully framed to protect our superficial comfort from being disturbed by a deeper, more troubling doubt."

"His laughter is meant to hide the greed that has begun to glint in his eyes. ("A Fur Salesman")"

"creativity is not the monopoly of the Shakespeares and Einsteins of this world. There is a science of intelligent living, an art of being fully human, in which we all can and ought to be creative. To use our imagination is part of the total art of being. To imagine other people's imagination is part of the art of being with others."

"Imagine what life would be like without imagination! There would be no Michelangelo or Da Vinci, no Edison, no delinquents and no saints, no Mozart, no nuclear power."

"You alone can change yourself, and when you do, then circumstances and people will both seem and be changed."

"One must be stubborn to achieve one's goals, to be nobody's fool. ("A Cut")"

"Is this dementia, desperation, or Machiavellian mischief? It occurs to me that the course of the world is perhaps set in motion but idiocy so convoluted it is rendered complex."

"Real refugees live in real refugee camps. Photo opportunities with celebrities call for movie sets. Army privates, starved for weeks and stuck in the stockade, are conscripted to act like refugees and thereafter either assassinated or promoted, depending on the things that these sorts of things usually depend on."

"Men like me, we are necessary because we unite those we recruit to keep us in power, and we unite those who have been recruited to put different versions of us in power. It is just like Woody Allen says, in a revolution oppressors become oppressed and vice versa."

"“How did he die?” “Firing squad.” The Brigadier-General snorts. “I do not much care for comedies,” he says."

"“People like me,” he says, “are either in power and fighting to stay in power, or we are not in power and fighting to be in power.”"

"Does circumstance reveal character or create it?"

"“Son, you hungry?” Roen said, coming up behind him. “I found this pizza joint a few blocks away. It’s French pizza—” he made a face “—but French pizza’s better than no pizza. Interested?”"

"Then someone said the magic words. “The Internet is down!”"

"Once you spend three thousand years in the same place, you are pretty much done with it forever."

"“What’s the trick?” It is easy. The trick is I am much smarter than you."

"He was an awful liar. Tao often lamented how bad he was at it, citing it as an Achilles heel in his future career as a secret agent. It’s true. Lying, charm, and a well-fitting suit are the traits that distinguish James Bond from every other asshole with a gun. “I don’t think I even own a suit.” You do not own the other two either."

"“I don’t know how many ways I can say no before it sinks into his concrete head.” The rich rarely accept “no” as an answer."

"“Well, old boy, the world is in a bit of a jam. Seems aliens as a whole are just a step below taxes on the world popularity scale.” Roen grunted. “At least the Quasing are still above politicians then.” “I would put them about even,” said Marco."

"“Tao, I don’t understand why I need to know this.” Advanced mathematics opens doors to many fields of study. More importantly, it expands the way you think."

"The level of dumb you humans can achieve is quite mind-boggling."

"When there is no one else left to fight, then there will be nothing left but peace."

"Jill blanched. Shooting a RPG was not part of her training. It is easy. Point and pull the trigger, like operating a vacuum cleaner. “I don’t know what sorts of house cleaning you’re used to, but the ones I have—”"

"He was also designated the tactical lead during this operation, simply because everyone else had an accent, which would give them away in a heartbeat. Well, everyone except for Chase, who was from Dallas, but that guy couldn’t lead children to an ice cream truck, let alone a last-minute multi-faceted ambush."

"She was at the same time extraordinarily sweet and completely vapid. She spent half of her time at school staring at her cell phone and the other half staring at herself."

"Fate is created, not ordained."

"Do not separate authority from responsibility."

"Conquering a kingdom is always the easy part. It is keeping it that is difficult."

"He ducked when he could, blocked when he had to, and gave up ground faster than the French in World War II."

"“God, he’s trying to kill me!” Doubtful, he is most likely aiming for a non-vital area. “Every part of me is vital!”"

"She is so far out of your league that you are not even playing the same sport."