If a fish is a movement embodied, given shape, then a cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air.

Africa gives you the knowledge that man is a small creature, amongst other creatures, in a large landscape.

The kitten was six weeks old. It was enchanting, a delicate fairy-tale cat, whose Siamese genes showed in the shape of the face, ears, tail, and the subtle lines of its body. She sat, a tiny thing, in the middle of a yellow carpet, surrounded by five worshippers, not at all afraid of us. Then she stalked around that floor of the house, inspecting every inch of it, climbed up on to my bed, crept under the fold of a sheet, and was at home.

Trust no friend without faults, and love a maiden, but no angel.

The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in 70 or 80 years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all.

Parents should leave books lying around marked 'forbidden' if they want their children to read.

That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life but in a new way.

That's what learning is. You suddenly understand something you understood all your life, but in a new way.

Man, who is he? Too bad, to be the work of God: Too good for the work of chance!

I am your original autodidact.