Be at war with your vices at peace with your neighbors and let every new year find you a better man.

Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.

Peace is not only better than war but infinitely more arduous.

Intellectually I know that America is no better than any other country emotionally I know she is better than every other country.

I do think the patriotic thing to do is to critique my country. How else do you make a country better but by pointing out its flaws?

Writing is good thinking is better. Cleverness is good patience is better.

I'm torn about late parenting. I believe people should spend their twenties living and having fun and not having any regrets later. I also think people in their thirties generally make better parents but so many of my friends are having trouble - myself included - as fathers get older.

If you're asking your kids to exercise then you better do it too. Practice what you preach.

We are apt to forget that children watch examples better than they listen to preaching.

To make a love story you need a couple of young people but to reflect on the nature of love you're better off with old ones. That is a fact of life and literature - and of the novel ever since it fell in love with love in the 18th century.