"If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone. A man should keep his friendships in constant repair."

"As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly."

"Hope itself is a species of happiness, and perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords."

"It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done."

"I hate mankind, for I think of myself as one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am."

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it."

"You ask me why I do not write something....I think one's feelings waste themselves in words, they ought all to be distilled into actions and into actions which bring results."

"Advice to writers: Sometimes you just have to stop writing. Even before you begin."

"The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think."

"It's not enough to create magic. You have to create a price for magic, too. You have to create rules."

"Literature is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none."

"An author spends months writing a book, and maybe puts his heart's blood into it, and then it lies about unread till the reader has nothing else in the world to do."