As A Rule Of Thumb I Say,

An Excellent Plumber Is Infinitely More Admirable Than An Incompetent Philosopher. The Society Which Scorns Excellence In Plumbing Because Plumbing Is A Humble Activity And Tolerates Shoddiness In Philosophy Because It Is An Exalted Activity Will Have Neither Good Plumbing Nor Good Philosophy. Neither Its Pipes Nor Its Theories Will Hold Water.

I Know Everything, You See,' The Old Voice Wheedled. 'the Beginning, The Present, The End. Everything. You Now, You See The Past And The Present, Like Other Low Creatures: No Higher Faculties Than Memory And Perception. But Dragons, My Boy, Have A Whole Different Kind Of Mind.' He Stretched His Mouth In A Kind Of Smile, No Trace Of Pleasure In It. 'we Are From The Mountaintop: All Time, All Space. We See In One Instant The Passionate Vision And The Blowout.

As A Rule Of Thumb I Say, If Socrates, Jesus And Tolstoy Wouldn't Do It, Don't.

Self Pity Is Easily The Most Destructive Of The Non-pharmaceutical Narcotics; It Is Addictive, Gives Momentary Pleasure And Separates The Victim From Reality.

Writing A Novel Is Like Heading Out Over The Open Sea In A Small Boat. It Helps, If You Have A Plan And A Course Laid Out.