Stepping Westward

"You see, you are an optimist and live on hope. I am a pessimist and live on experience."

[A]nd the traffic noise that boomed in through the window was another reminder of what his spirit knew, that he was but a grain of sand in someone else's desert.

My experience of ships is that on them one makes an interesting discovery about the world. One finds one can do without it completely.

The English are polite by telling lies. The Americans are polite by telling the truth.

"Well," said Dr Jochum, "you are like all reformers. You like to reform the world because it is easier than trying to reform yourself."

"We got a course in picknicking at the university," said Dr. Bourbon. "It's called Geology, but it's really picknicking."

Reading someone else's newspaper is like sleeping with someone else's wife. Nothing seems to be precisely in the right place, and when you find what you are looking for, it is not clear then how to respond to it.

"Well, yes, surely I think everybody ought to enjoy life as much as it's humanly possible because that's why we exist. I believe."

Jochum had said, "You keep asking the universe 'How ought I to live?' But it can't answer."