Faithfulness to the past can be a kind of death above ground. Writing of the past is a resurrection; the past then lives in your words and you are free.

The past is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future.

The West is color. Its colors are animal rather than vegetable, the colors of earth and sunlight and ripeness.

Justice is a terrible but necessary thing.

The secret to life is finding joy in ordinary things. I'm interested in happiness.

Whoever labors for the happiness of those he loves elevates himself, no matter whether he works in the dreary shop or the perfumed field.

A laugh, to be joyous, must flow from a joyous heart, for without kindness, there can be no true joy.

Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman - or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.