David T. Freeman

Many unkind people have done kind things. Doing acts of kindness is not the same as occupying kindness, of being kindness.

Warm summer sun, shine kindly here. Warm southern wind, blow softly here. Green sod above, lie light, lie light. Good night, dear Heart, Good night, good night.

Life is a marathon, it’s not a sprint.

This is the real secret of life – to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

Every loss of life is terrible.

To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.

Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.

Life is like improvised jazz. We cannot regulate all the variables. We must play it with panache and flair as best we can.

I take my only exercise acting as a pallbearer at the funerals of my friends who exercise regularly.

If you’re interested in ‘balancing’ work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable.

When I was fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have him around. When I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.

Your feelings? To hell with your feelings!

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.

Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.

In the dime stores and bus stations, people talk of situations, read books, repeat quotations, draw conclusions on the wall.