No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft.

Christ is the most unique person of history. No man can write a history of the human race without giving first and foremost place to the penniless Teacher of Nazareth.

Nothing leads so straight to futility as literary ambitions without systematic knowledge.

No compulsion in the world is stronger than the urge to edit someone else's document.

I write to cover a frame of ideas.

Figures are the most shocking things in the world. The prettiest little squiggles of black looked at in the right light and yet consider the blow they can give you upon the heart.

Endless conflicts. Endless misunderstanding. All life is that. Great and little cannot understand one another.

I write as straight as I can, just as I walk as straight as I can, because that is the best way to get there.

If you are in difficulties with a book, try the element of surprise: attack it at an hour when it isn't expecting it.