“Associate with the noblest people you can find; read the best books; live with the mighty; but learn to be happy alone.”

“Associate with noblest people you can find; read the best books; live with the mighty. But learn to be happy alone. Rely upon your own energies, and so not wait for, or depend on other people.”

“Pay attention to what's happening around you. Read the book before you see the movie. Remember, though you, alone, are responsible for your own happiness, its still okay to feel responsible for someone else's. Live and to learn.”

“I think you can read a dozen different books and not learn a single thing about writing. Good writers don't read, they study books. They pick the plots apart and the sentences apart. And part of studying is copying. Reading is great and every writer should read, but reading alone isn't enough to learn what you need to learn...”

“A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people. ”

“You are the same today that you are going to be five years from now except for two things: the people with whom you associate and the books you read.”