"It's possible to become so comfortable with one's style and structure that one ceases to grow"

"Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives"

"If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins"

"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver"

"When I learn something new - and it happens every day - I feel a little more at home in this universe, a little more comfortable in the nest."

"A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity"

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn't show."

"If I knew I was going to die at a specific moment in the future, it would be nice to be able to control what song I was listening to; this is why I always bring my iPod on airplanes."

"Every relationship is fundamentally a power struggle, and the individual in power is whoever likes the other person less"

"A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness"

"A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy."