“Cubism is like standing at a certain point on a mountain and looking around. If you go higher, things will look different; if you go lower, again they will look different. It is a point of view.”

“I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse perhaps to be locked in.”

“I wonder if it is possible to have a love affair that lasts forever.”

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

“What’s strange is how many beginning writers seem to think that grammar is irrelevant, or that they are somehow above or beyond this subject more fit for a school child than the future author of great literature. Or possibly they worry that they will be distracted from their focus on art if they permit themselves to be sidetracked by the dull requirements of English usage. But the truth is that grammar is always interesting, always useful. Mastering the logic of grammar contributes, in a mysterious way that again evokes some process of osmosis, to the logic of thought.”

“Whenever you hear someone say, “The government should be run like a company: Your revenues have to exceed the amount you spend,” you should stop listening, because that’s not how companies are run.”

“Contacts have always seemed like too much work, so instead I just squint, figuring that if something is more than six feet away, I’ll just deal with it when I get there.”

“Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.”

“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”

“There are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts.”