Russell Baker

"Change is the only constant in life."

"A good writer is basically a storyteller, not a scholar."

"The world doesn't owe you anything. You owe the world something."

"The goal of the editorial page is to curate, to challenge, to provoke thought - not merely to reflect what people already believe."

"A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom."

"The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different."

"Bark when it makes sense to bark. Bite when it makes sense to bite. Wag your tail at every opportunity."

"The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is easy to say yes."

"People seem to enjoy things more when they know a lot of other people are also forced to endure the same thing."

"God is not a homophobe. He made gay people."

"The pressure of contemporary life is so great that we have almost no time to think or feel."

"What makes America wonderful is that we're a nation with so few historical grudges that we actually like each other."

"If God had intended for us to fly, He would have given us tickets."

"The worst thing about getting old is not losing your youth, but discovering you've never really used it."

"Summer is like childhood - long, hot, drowsy, and somehow eternal."

"The most destructive word in any human vocabulary is the word 'impossible.'"

"Life is the only experience most of us will ever have that resembles the reading of a good novel."

"We spend our youth learning how to live, and our old age teaching others."

"The ordinary man's indifference to all fine things."

"The people who say you can't do it are usually interrupted by the sound of you doing it."

"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock."

"A day without laughter is a day wasted."

"To be an author, you have to accept that failure is part of the process."

"We are not makers of history. We are made by history."

"Freedom is a very intoxicating thing."

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time."

"Writing is the painting of the voice."

"Truth is like a surgical knife - it may pain, but it heals."

"An argument is like a fire in a fireplace - controlled, it's pleasant; uncontrolled, it burns the house down."

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places."