The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter – ‚tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.

Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.

Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.

Here in the West, people often don’t like listening to their leaders, even if they are right.

It’s with bad sentiments that one makes good novels.

Never regret what you don’t write.

I’ll think I have a few wonderful friends and all of a sudden, ooh, here it comes. They do a lot of things. They talk about you to the press, to their friends, tell stories, and you know, it’s disappointing.

Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

For, if a good speaker, never so eloquent, does not see into the fact, and is not speaking the truth of that – is there a more horrid kind of object in creation?

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

I will meet my countrymen. I understand only one language: that they are my countrymen, they are my brothers. You may see with whatever colour you want; Modi will not go into that colour.

Who, being loved, is poor?

Poetry and lyrics are very similar. Making words bounce off a page.

One must steer, not talk.

I don’t write with a machine. I write with a pen and a paper, which is what is most comfortable for me.

Is it not important to find out how to listen not only to what is being said but to everything – to the noise in the streets, to the chatter of birds, to the noise of the tramcar, to the restless sea, to the voice of your husband, to your wife, to your friends, to the cry of a baby?

Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.

I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.

From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned.

Music in itself carries a whole set of messages which are very, very rich and complex, and the words either serve to exclude certain ones or point up certain others.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

It is not, of course, complete yet – but some sentences were understood this afternoon… I feel that I have at last struck the solution of a great problem – and the day is coming when telegraph wires will be laid onto houses just like water or gas – and friends converse with each other without leaving home.

Kids who have an understanding of how and why their feelings are what they are are much more likely to talk to us about what’s happening, and they have better skills to work it out.

A bad book is as much of a labor to write as a good one, it comes as sincerely from the author’s soul.

Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it.

For me, I used to be shy towards journalism because it wasn’t poetry. And then I realized that the events that I covered in essays that became journalism were actually great because they inspired me, and they became my muse.

Silence is argument carried out by other means.

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

Stage actors are usually much more conscious of speaking up and making sure that everyone can hear in the back of the theatre; a film actor probably thinks of that a little less.

I very much believe the Internet is indeed all it is cracked up to be.

The second time around, I’ll understand that, as a husband, my wife doesn’t care about my opinions. I just need to tell her the things that will continue to help me stack the brownie points.

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.

Writing and travel broaden your ass if not your mind and I like to write standing up.

A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.

People are very reluctant to talk about their private lives but then you go to the internet and they’re much more open.

Syllables govern the world.

The only time people dislike gossip is when you gossip about them.

When I did have some success, it further emboldens you to be like, ‚No, I’m just going to write what I feel I should write.‘

The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.

I was saving the name of ‚Geisel‘ for the Great American Novel.

Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.

The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.

When everything works best, it’s not because you chose writing but because writing chose you. It’s when you’re mad with it, it’s when it’s stuffed in your ears, your nostrils, under your fingernails. It’s when there’s no hope but that.

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn.

I think history is collective memories. In writing, I’m using my own memory, and I’m using my collective memory.

Oh, the difference between nearly right and exactly right.

My own experience is use the tools that are out there. Use the digital world. But never lose sight of the need to reach out and talk to other people who don’t share your view. Listen to them and see if you can find a way to compromise.

People don’t realise how difficult it is to work with people day in and day out that know absolutely nothing.

Of course, there are those critics – New York critics as a rule – who say, ‚Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer.‘ Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.

There should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences before resorting to combat.

Our schools and colleges are turning out people who cannot feel fulfilled unless they are telling other people what to do.

I feel like I’m too busy writing history to read it.

Talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.

The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.

Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart.

Once writing has become your major vice and greatest pleasure, only death can stop it.

You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems and suffer and understand, for all that is life.

I always keep my guard up with guys and I guess that can get in the way sometimes. I can make them go through hell.

Whoever the coach is, my job is to talk to him, understand him and be a better player under him and give my best.