I like to try to do a little work before I do anything in the morning even if it's a paragraph.

You come before me this morning with clean hands and clean collars. I want you to have clean tongues clean manners clean morals and clean characters.

It's hard to think of yourself as a brand especially when I have four daughters who kick my butt early in the morning every day before I go to work.

In order to have good fried chicken you should wash and season the bird the morning you're preparing it for dinner. Don't wait and do it right before you start cooking. Throw it in the refrigerator seasoned that morning and give it a chance to soak up all the salt and pepper and goodness.

I'll never forget one morning I walked in and I had a hell of a bruise - it had been a difficult night the night before - and a client said to me 'Good God Vidal what happened to your face?' And I said 'Oh nothing madam I just fell over a hairpin.'

First of all let me say 1:15 in the morning for 20 000 people to still be here I wasn't the winner tennis was. That's awesome. I don't know if I've ever felt so good here before.

But I try to steal other moments. Sometimes I get up very early in the morning and enjoy a quiet house and cup of tea before the craziness begins. Other times I'll take a quick walk on the beach. You can find peace in a few minutes.

I pray every night before I go to sleep and every morning when I wake up.

The less I behave like Whistler's mother the night before the more I look like her the morning after.

I think the worst and most insidious procrastination for me is research. I will be looking for some bit of fact or figure to include in the novel and before I know I've wasted an entire morning delving into that subject matter without a word written.

Like a morning dream life becomes more and more bright the longer we live and the reason of everything appears more clear. What has puzzled us before seems less mysterious and the crooked paths look straighter as we approach the end.

First thing every morning before you arise say out loud 'I believe ' three times.

Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise.

I'm not sure about the selling part but I've always found that the things I've worn on tour have moved over to what people wear every day. Sometimes the things I wore in the beginning before I had money were things I put together.

I want to sit with 80- and 90-year-old people more than anyone. They have played this game before. Not one of them has told me 'I wish I had more money.'

I sat with him for three hours and we did not exchange a single word. At the end he handed me as he had done before an envelope with money in it. It would have been much nicer if he had enclosed a greeting or a loving word. I would have been so pleased if he had.

Always remember money isn't everything - but also remember to make a lot of it before talking such fool nonsense.