“I was only glad to be saved and never once thought to ask why.”

“Why do only the awful things become fads? I thought. Eye-rolling and Barbie and bread pudding. Why never chocolate cheesecake or thinking for yourself?”

“I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt as long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if any asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick.”

“Once I made a decision, I never thought about it again.”

“I never ask a man what his business is, for it never interests me. What I ask him about are his thoughts and dreams.”

“It may be glorious to write
Thoughts that shall glad the two or three
High souls, like those far stars that come in sight
Once in a century.”

“How little remains of the man I once was, save the memory of him! But remembering is only a new form of suffering.”

“I thought I'd begin by reading a poem by Shakespeare, but then I thought, why should I? He never reads any of mine.”

“Once I have gotten into a problem, I find it extremely helpful to get a complete perspective, to learn what earlier scientists thought about it. I want to see not only what lines of thought proved to be productive, but also where and why certain other directions proved to be unproductive.”

“Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?”