“Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over.”

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”

“Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind.”

“That however the brains and abilities of men may differ, their stomachs are essentially the same.”

“Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation– the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. This philosophy fitted on to my early adult life, when I saw the improbable, the implausible, often the "impossible," come true.”

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”

“but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering.”