"The educated do not share a common body of information, but a common state of mind."

"Friends are sometimes boring, but enemies never."

"Even boredom has its crises."

"The time I kill is killing me."

"The aim of literary ambition is to demonstrate one's greatness of soul."

"Who would not give up wit for power and beauty?"

"The beginning of self-knowledge: recognizing that your motives are the same as other people's."

"Stated clearly enough, an idea may cancel itself out."

"Minds will wander even during the Last Judgment."

"Worried about being a dull fellow? You might develop your talent for being irritating."

"My parents wanted me to solace them for sorrows they denied having had."

"When I prayed for success, I forgot to ask for sound sleep and good digestion."

"The ravaged face in the mirror hides the enchanting youth that is the real me."

"Dancing and running shake up the chemistry of happiness."

"Flattery and insults raise the same question: What do you want?"

"While we are reading, we are all Don Quixote."

"After my spectacular failures, I could not be satisfied with an ordinary success."

"Cynicism is full of naive disappointments."

"Money is to my social existence what health is to my body."

"Documents create a paper reality we call proof."

"The body has a mind of its own."

"While there's life, there's fear."

"Romantics consider common sense vulgar."

"Opportunity knocks, but doesn't always answer to its name."

"The passion for money is never fickle."

"After an argument, silence may mean acceptance or the continuation of resistance by other means."

"Think carefully before asking for justice. Mercy might be safer."

"A sense of blessedness comes from a change of heart, not from more blessings."

"Old age: I fall asleep during the funerals of my friends."

"We are more tied to our faults than to our virtues."

"The discontented believe that their regrets are about the past."

"Consciousness is our only reprieve from Time."

"General statements omit what we really want to know. Example: some horses run faster than others."

"Young poets bewail the passing of love; old poets, the passing of time. There is surprisingly little difference."

"Excuses change nothing, but make everyone feel better."

"Hatred of the mother is familiar, but the mother's hatred still comes as a surprise."

"Travelers never think that they are the foreigners."

"To understand a literary style, consider what it omits."

"Melancholy is as seductive as Ecstasy."

"Promiscuity is like never reading past the first page. Monogamy is like reading the same book over and over."

"Moo may represent an idea, but only the cow knows."

"Only the broken-hearted know the truth about love."

"In the game of love, the losers are more celebrated than the winners."

"Journalism never admits that nothing much is happening."

"If we think about the obvious long enough, it dissolves."

"The gods are watching, but idly, yawning."

"Lying just for the fun of it is either art or pathology."

"Families in which nothing is ever discussed usually have a lot not to discuss."

"When a man bores a woman, she complains. When a woman bores a man, he ignores her."

"Every literary critic believes he will outwit history and have the last word."