“You want the story of my life?Big ideas, small results.”

“Egotism - usually just a case of mistaken nonentity.”

“But you don't know what I want, do you. You formed an idea of who I am and What I do, and you've woven that idea in your life. You may listen to my words, but you don't hear my thoughts. You don't hear my needs. You don't see me. You haven't seen me in years.”

“Mom, why couldn't my story, my real life story have a happy ending - like in the books?""No true love story has a happy ending; one always must die and leave the other. So there's never a totally happy ending.”

“You see mother, you had no life of your own. They have no idea. One has only a life of one's own.”

“Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work--that goes on, and it adds up. It goes into the ground, into crops, into children's bellies and their bright eyes. Good things don't get lost.”

“If you want sweet dreams, you've got to live a sweet life.”