"The day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying."

"Everything one does in life, even love, occurs in an express train racing toward death. To smoke opium is to get out of the train while it is still moving. It is to concern oneself with something other than life or death."

"All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it."

"I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike?"

"The stoutest timber is forged in the fiercest gales, not in the sheltered grove. This remains the cornerstone of personal mastery."

"It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys of London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside."

"Kindness is the invisible thread that binds all kindred spirits together. Remember this in moments of decisive trial."

"I learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it."