I would be twenty before I learned how to be fifteen, thirty before I knew what it meant to be twenty, and now at seventy-two I have to stop myself from thinking like a man of fifty who has plenty of time ahead.

Poor brain! How helplessly it dissolves when willing eyes meet and the nose warms to those old jungle scents.

Nevertheless, one learned very early that books had to be respected; they were all putative Bibles and to some small degree had a share in holiness.

... so many tremendous decisions in life are made because it is five o'clock.

The famous are balloons far up in the sky, to be envied for their quiet freedom or shot down as enemies.

Few occasions are as joyous to small children as funerals, almost better than the big wedding blowouts that take place at night when it's hard to stay awake. A small boy will never be harshly criticized at a funeral; he is more treasured as death comes close and all his wickedness vanishes before the inescapable fact that thank God, he is healthy.

An idol tells people exactly what to believe, God presents them with choices they have to make for themselves. The difference is far from insignificant; before the idol men remain dependent children, before God they are burdened and at the same time liberated to participate in the decisions of endless creation.

A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.

Down deep in His heart God is a comedian who loves to make us laugh.

The brain heals the past like an injury ...