Write in recollection and amazement for yourself.

The most terrifying thing I can think of is being alone - and I mean utterly alone like no one else in the world alone - at night. That's the nucleus of the first story in my collection and it's also where the title came from for the book.

I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent of human knowledge that has ever been gathered at the White House - with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.

The harvest of old age is the recollection and abundance of blessing previously secured.

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.