James A. Michener

I'm just a guy up on a hill writing.

— James A. Michener

There are no insoluble problems. Only time-consuming ones.

— James A. Michener

All I can do is play the game the way the cards fall.

— James A. Michener

“To have courage. To have honor. Is very beautiful.”

— James A. Michener

Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them.

— James A. Michener

“how small he was and how wormy in manner,”

— James A. Michener

Rampaging horsemen can conquer; only the city can civilize.

— James A. Michener

We are never prepared for what we expect.

— James A. Michener

I think young people ought to seek the experience that is going to knock them off center.

— James A. Michener

Never forget, son, when you represent Texas, always go first class.

— James A. Michener

“My principal flowers will be trees. Because when you plant trees, you’re entitled to believe you’ll live forever. So”

— James A. Michener

A group of two dozen nurses completely surrounded by 100,000 unattached American men.

— James A. Michener

“The Boer nation had become a theocracy, and would so remain. General”

— James A. Michener

First buy a cowboy hat and boots. Then you're on your way to being a Texan.

— James A. Michener

“I live for the few minutes I can talk with a sensible human being, but every time I do, I feel worse…

— James A. Michener

I missed a whole cycle of childhood, but I've never used it as a device for self-pity.

— James A. Michener

“For this is the journey that men make, to find themselves. If they fail in this, it doesn't matter much what else…

— James A. Michener

America is a nation with many flaws that only the stupid would deny, but with hopes so vast that only the cowardly…

— James A. Michener

The permanent temptation of life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat of life comes when dreams are surrendered to…

— James A. Michener

Every animal that walks the earth, or swims, or flies is precious beyond description, something so rare and wonderful that it equals…

— James A. Michener

During my lifetime I have met dozens of writers and photographers in dozens of different countries. But I have encountered no one…

— James A. Michener

I have never thought of myself as a good writer. Anyone who wants reassurance of that should read one of my first…

— James A. Michener

It heartens me to think of Verdi who composed thundering operas in his eighties; Michelangelo who did fine work in his ninetieth…

— James A. Michener

I was once asked if I'd like to meet the president of a certain country. I said, "No, but I'd love to…

— James A. Michener

The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his…

— James A. Michener

Hawaii and Fiji are two of the best island groups in the world to visit as a vacationer. The great hotels, the…

— James A. Michener

I thought that perhaps the most creative mix for a society would be nine parts solid worker from institutions like MIT to…

— James A. Michener

“The South Pacific was once the playground for ship-sick European sailors. Then it became the roistering barricade of the last great pirates.…

— James A. Michener

Millions upon millions of years ago, when the continents were already formed and the principal features of the earth had been decided,…

— James A. Michener

I don’t know who my parents were. I know nothing about my inheritance. I could be Jewish; I could be part Negro;…

— James A. Michener

We risk great peril if we kill off this spirit of adventure, for we cannot predict how and in what seemingly unrelated…

— James A. Michener

“The great writers, Conrad, Maugham and Melville, spent only a few years in the South Seas, but their memory of those waters…

— James A. Michener

“A Roman came to Rabbi Gimzo the Water Carrier, and asked, "What is this study of the law that you Jews engage…

— James A. Michener

“Brothers in God,” he said simply, “you are not entering upon a limited mission. You are to aim at nothing less than…

— James A. Michener

“CATHOLIC: Let me understand what you’re saying, Mrs. Paxmore. You believe that on some day to come, the religious leaders of this…

— James A. Michener

“Simon, we’re destined to win. I know our armies are in retreat everywhere and we’ve no navy. But the great sweep of…

— James A. Michener

“It was the Sea of Galilee, now known by its Latin name, Mare Tyberiadis, sunk in its deep depression among surrounding hills…

— James A. Michener

“Where, indeed? Captain Vincent Reed had been born in the city of Richmond, Virginia, of northern parents who were stationed there by…

— James A. Michener

“A ship, like a human being, moves best when it is slightly athwart the wind, when it has to keep its sails…

— James A. Michener

I write at eighty-five for the same reasons that impelled me to write at forty-five; I was born with a passionate desire…

— James A. Michener