"I do not understand how on earth you can become a writer without seeing the world."

“Washington and the elder Napoleon. Both were brave men; both were true men; both loved their country and dared to expose their lives for their country's cause.”

Source : Matthew Simpson (1885). “Sermons”

“Hair loss is God's way of telling me I'm human.”

“Since I didn't have any kind of formal training, it didn't make any difference to me if I was listening to Lightnin' Slim, or a vocal group called the Jewels ... , or Webern, or Varèse, or Stravinsky. To me it was all good music.”

“Sometimes it can feel like the whole globe is spinning with irredeemable losses, capricious natural disasters and crimes so outrageously evil they dismantle any attempt to solve or explain them.”

Source : "Yao Ming: What I've Learned" by Cal Fussman, www.esquire.com. December 10, 2009.

“Humanitarianism is the expression of stupidity and cowardice.”

“We always say, one day we will laugh at this. I always try to make sure that this one day is today...”

Source : "Are Chess Players Intelligent?". Quality Chess Blog, www.qualitychess.co.uk. October 06, 2010.

“It seems that I have spent my entire life trying to make life more rational and that it was all wasted effort.”

Source : In Observer 17 Aug. 1986

“I am a moment illuminating eternity....I am affirmation...I am ecstasy.”