Every man should have laws of his own I should think commandments of his own for every man has a different set of circumstances wherein to work - or worry.

When I was younger I probably didn't understand something basic about tact but I think it kept faint-hearted people at arm's distance and that's not such a bad thing because life is short and I know the kind of people I want to work with.

Authority doesn't work without prestige or prestige without distance.

The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alternation of old beliefs.

Only the most unapologetic biblical fundamentalists for instance take every biblical injunction literally. If we all took all scripture at the same level of authority then we would be more open to slavery to the subjugation of women to wider use of stoning. Jesus himself spoke out frequently against divorce in the strongest of terms.

I shall earnestly and persistently continue to urge all women to the practical recognition of the old Revolutionary maxim. Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.

Women speak because they wish to speak whereas a man speaks only when driven to speak by something outside himself like for instance he can't find any clean socks.

When the British came to Ibo land for instance at the beginning of the 20th century and defeated the men in pitched battles in different places and set up their administrations the men surrendered. And it was the women who led the first revolt.

You don't argue with a four-year old about why he shouldn't eat candy for dinner. You don't punch a mentally handicapped guy even if he punches you first. And you don't argue when a women tells you she's only making 80 cents to your dollar. It's the path of least resistance. You save your energy for more important battles.

Unhappy is that Grandeur which makes us too great to be good and that Wit which sets us at a distance from true Wisdom.

We should not judge people by their peak of excellence but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.

Even under the best of circumstances the road back from war is difficult.

There are evils that have the ability to survive identification and go on for ever... money for instance or war.

However much we may sympathize with a small nation confronted by a big and powerful neighbours we cannot in all circumstances undertake to involve the whole British Empire in a war simply on her account.

There is no morality in war. Morality is the privilege of those judging from the distance. War is only death and destruction.

Circumstances cause us to act the way we do. We should always bear this in mind before judging the actions of others. I realized this from the start during World War II.

War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen circumstances that no human wisdom can calculate the end it has but one thing certain and that is to increase taxes.

There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.

A petty reason perhaps why novelists more and more try to keep a distance from journalists is that novelists are trying to write the truth and journalists are trying to write fiction.

A fact never went into partnership with a miracle. Truth scorns the assistance of wonders. A fact will fit every other fact in the universe and that is how you can tell whether it is or is not a fact. A lie will not fit anything except another lie.

Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.

More and more political analysts and weak-kneed politicians are advising the historically pro-life Republican Party to abandon its pro-life stance for political gain. My first response is that if you cannot trust a party on the value of defending human life how can you trust it on issues like marginal tax rates?

You know it's only 50 miles from Grand River to Canton but it took me 67 years to travel that distance.

There are days when I intentionally don't write. For instance I never write when I'm traveling because travel is a situation where I can learn more by looking and listening than by working.