The readers and the hearers like my books, But yet some writers cannot them digest; But what care I? For when I make a feast I would my guests should praise it, not the cooks

With our significant presence already in the region, and the fact that California is one of the largest issuers of municipal bonds in the country, it just made sense for us to have a trading desk in the state. We have a total of 68 branch offices in California, Nevada and Hawaii, and we also run a public finance office in Los Angeles, so we know these markets well.

You can't say from those numbers that anything was a failure, but it's not an outrageous success.

Most writers write books that they wouldn't read. I ought to know; I've done it myself.

There is something fascinatingly awkward about an author photo. I'm drawn to those glossy shots in the back of books, mostly because the subjects never look happy to be there.

Most books, like their authors, are born to die; of only a few books can it be said that death has no dominion over them; they live, and their influence lives forever.