What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.

If you want to kill any idea in the world, get a committee working on it.

It is not so important to know everything as to appreciate what we learn.

Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins.

My parents used to throw great New Year's Eve parties. They invited such an eclectic mix of showbiz people. All those cool people were always hanging out at our apartment.

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.

Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, with whom they make up a sole family - a domestic church.

If you're bored with life - you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things - you don't have enough goals.

Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.

And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department.

You know, my friends, with what a brave carouse I made a Second Marriage in my house; favored old barren reason from my bed, and took the daughter of the vine to spouse.

We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.

I have no way of knowing how people really feel, but the vast majority of those I meet couldn't be nicer. Every once in a while someone barks at me. My New Year's resolution is not to bark back.

There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

Always expect the unexpected. Right around Thanksgiving, when the new Alex Cross will be out. It's called Four Blind Mice and it's a pretty amazing story about several murders inside the military.

Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.

Many people spend more time in planning the wedding than they do in planning the marriage.

I never worry about being driven to drink; I just worry about being driven home.

There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth.

My wife's jealousy is getting ridiculous. The other day she looked at my calendar and wanted to know who May was.

Cut your morning devotions into your personal grooming. You would not go out to work with a dirty face. Why start the day with the face of your soul unwashed?