“You…
you are as old as the Mamre oak,
ancient interrogator of the moon,
whose feigned groans cannot take us in.
You write laws of iron.”

“You cannot think clearly if you cannot speak and write clearly”

“Write only if you cannot live without writing. Write only what you alone can write.”

“If you cannot write well, you cannot think well; if you cannot think well, others will do your thinking for you.”

“You cannot write if you do not read,” the blind man said. “You cannot eat if you do not chew. And you cannot play if you do not”—he grabbed for the boy’s hand—“listen.”

“Write the book you want to read, the one you cannot find.”

“Socialism means keeping account of everything. You will have socialism if you take stock of every piece of iron and cloth.”

“When you have an idea, hang on to it. It's the most valuable thing in the world. Nurture it. Test it. And remember: you can grow a toadstool overnight, but it takes time to grow an oak.”

“Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.”

“They should call the good man an ass! They should call the bad ass a man! ]]Ironically]] … to speak thus of you, so smart, friend of the old and the young, of the stream and the butterfly, of the sun and the dog, of the flower and the moon, patient and thoughtful, melancholic and lovable, the Marcus Aurelius of the fields…”