“I have lots of ideas. Trouble is, most of them suck. ”

“There’s the big advantage of backwardness. By the time the latest ideas reach Chicago, they’re worn thin and easy to see through. You don’t have to bother with them and it saves lots of trouble.”

“For all their bitching about what’s holding them back, most people have a lot of trouble coming up with the defined dreams they’re being held from.”

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened.”

“People always sounded worried when I called them. Maybe because I only ever called a lot of them when I was in trouble and needed help. I needed to set up more lunch dates or have more parties, to cure people of the idea that a call from me automatically equaled danger. Then again, that was probably a lost cause.”

“I'd have wasted a lot of time and trouble before I learned that the best way to take all people, black or white, is to take them for what they think they are, then leave them alone.”