“What my father said about businessmen applies to liberals ... They're sons of bitches. The people who are selfish are interested in their own singular course of action and do not take into consideration the needs or requirements of others and what can ultimately be accomplished.”

“Where did he go, your father?''Africa.''What for?''To shoot lions, of course.''What on Earth for?' said Mrs. Willow blankly.'Some people shoot lions,' the girl said pleasantly, 'and some people do not shoot lions. My father is one of the people who do.”

“At the root of every large struggle in life is the need to be honest about something that we do not feel we can be honest about. We lie to ourselves or other people because the truth might require action on our part, and action requires courage. We say we “don’t know” what is wrong, when we do know what is wrong; we just wish we didn’t.Art lets us tell the truth, but even art can be something to hide behind.”

“Is it possible really to love other people? If I’m lonely and in pain, everyone outside me is potential relief—I need them. But can you really love what you need so badly? Isn’t a big part of love caring more about what the other person needs? How am I supposed to subordinate my own overwhelming need to somebody else’s needs that I can’t even feel directly? And yet if I can’t do this, I’m damned to loneliness, which I definitely don’t want … so I’m back at trying to overcome my selfishness for self-interested reasons.”

“Confidence is a reduction of your own interest in whether others are thinking about you and if so, what they're thinking.”

“A nation's strength ultimately consist in what it can do on its own and not in what it can borrow from other.”