“ The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one's key to the experience of others. ”

“ Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters? ”

“ I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. ”

“ American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it. ”

“ Pessimists are the people who have no hope for themselves or for others. Pessimists are also people who think the human race is beneath their notice, that they're better than other human beings. ”

“ There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment the time is always now. ”

“ It is very nearly impossible... to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind. ”

“ To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the making of bread. ”

“ The writer's greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody, in another sense, and at the same time, he needs no one at all. ”

“ Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. ”