“A wise person speaks carefully and with truth, for every word tht passes between one's teeth is meant for something.”

“There's a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words."[Interview, The Paris Review, Summer 1956]”

“Every silence says something: the silence between words, between notes in music and between people.”

“With a gun barrel between your teeth, you speak only in vowels.”

“Wise men speak when they have something to say, fools speak because they have to say something”

“The saviour answered...and said, If you want to be perfect, you will keep these teachings. If not, you deserve to be called ignorant. For a wise person cannot associate with a fool. The wise person is perfect in all wisdom, but to the fool, good and evil are one and the same. For the wise person will be nourished by the truth...Some people have wings but run after what they can see, what is far from the truth.”