Not every story has explosions and car chases. That's why they have nudity and espionage.

The eternal silence of these infinite spaces fills me with dread.

—Blaise Pascal

Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.

—Blaise Pascal

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.

—Blaise Pascal

The strength of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.

—Blaise Pascal

I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man's being unable to sit still in a room.

—Blaise Pascal

If the weak hand, that has recorded this tale, has, by its scenes, beguiled the mourner of one hour of sorrow, or, by its moral, taught him to sustain it—the effort, however humble, has not been vain, nor is the writer unrewarded.

—Ann Radcliffe

I've always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worries and only half the royalties.

—Agatha Christie

Never tell anyone that you're writing a book, going on a diet, exercising, taking a course, or quitting smoking. They'll encourage you to death.

—Lynn Johnston

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.

—Henry David Thoreau