It's best to give while your hand is still warm.

~ Philip Roth, novelist (b. 1933)

The mind is the effect, not the cause.

~ Daniel C. Dennett, philosopher (b. 1942)

Mistakes are part of the dues that one pays for a full life. 

~ Sophia Loren, actress (b. 1934

Ultimately, literature is nothing but carpentry....... With both you are working with reality, a material just as hard as wood. 

~ Gabriel García Márquez, novelist, journalist, Nobel laureate (b. 1927) 

The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. 

~ Jean-Paul Sartre, writer and philosopher (1905-1980) 

I met, not long ago, a young man who aspired to become a novelist. Knowing that I was in the profession, he asked me to tell him how he should set to work to realize his ambition. I did my best to explain. 'The first thing,' I said, 'is to buy quite a lot of paper, a bottle of ink, and a pen. After that you merely have to write.'

~ Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963) 

An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. 

~ Spanish proverb 

Art is like baby shoes. When you coat them with gold, they can no longer be worn. 

~ John Updike, writer (1932-2009) 

In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends imprisoned by an enchanter in paper and leathern boxes. 

 ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) 

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from that of their social environment. 

~ Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955) 

Time changes all things: there is no reason why language should escape this universal law. 

~ Ferdinand de Saussure, linguist (1857-1913) 

In this world, you must be a bit too kind to be kind enough. 

~ Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux, dramatist and novelist (1688-1763) 

In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: they must be fit for it; they must not do too much of it; and they must have a sense of success in it. 

~ John Ruskin, author, art critic, and social reformer (1819-1900) 

Humans think they are smarter than dolphins because we build cars and buildings and start wars, etc., and all that dolphins do is swim in the water, eat fish, and play around. Dolphins believe that they are smarter for exactly the same reasons. 

~ Douglas Adams, writer, dramatist, and musician (1952-2001) 

Fame is very agreeable, but the bad thing is that it goes on 24 hours a day. 

~ Gabriel García Márquez, novelist, journalist, Nobel laureate (b. 1927) 

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. 

~ Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1928) 

Man needs to go outside himself in order to find repose and reveal himself. 

~ José Martí, revolutionary and poet (1853-1895)

He who opens a school door, closes a prison. 

~ Victor Hugo, poet, novelist, and dramatist (1802-1885) 

It is the final proof of God's omnipotence that he need not exist in order to save us. 

~ Peter De Vries, novelist (1910-1993) 

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

~  Saint Augustine