respecting privacy Quotes

I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each shall stand guard over the solitude of the other. For, if it lies in the nature of indifference and of the crowd to recognize no solitude, then love and friendship are there for the purpose of continually providing the opportunity for solitude. And only those are the true sharings which rhythmically interrupt periods of deep isolation.

Love your Neighbour; yet don't pull down your Hedge.

I want my personal life to be personal... And I don't care if you're talking about things that are true, you're still talking about my personal life.

Whatever my intentions, whatever the truth of my claim, I had no business giving a lecture to a total stranger.

I just think that your private life is private. What I do is obviously public, I get that. I get the fact that people are interested. I'm interested in a lot of people as well. I've just chosen to stay as private as possible.

When someone is crying, of course, the noble thing to do is to comfort them. But if someone is trying to hide their tears, it may also be noble to pretend you do not notice them.

Ninety percent of all human wisdom is the ability to mind your own business.

I have certain rules for snooping, under which anything out in the open is fair game. But I also think, in light of some current trends in our culture, that privacy should be respected.

I want you to remember what was good in me, not what was most awful. The people you love should be allowed to keep their worst to themselves.

We should not talk about our friends: otherwise we will talk away the feeling of friendship.

I didn't want the book [of memoirs] out, naturally - Larry [Grobel] knew that for 20 years, 15 at least, I didn't want anything written about me. Then, you know, things happen, finally it's OK and I trust Larry. Nothing about it is salacious in any way.

I'm not a kiss-and-teller. I never named names.

I don't really check out other people's butts.

There are things I back off from trying to talk about, you know. Particularly my own work. Also, there may be things better left unsaid. At times I'd much rather talk about other (people's) work.

True friends share everything, except the past before they met.

Love your neighbor, yet pull not down your hedge.

People should always mind their own business. More trouble is caused in this world by interference than any other single thing.

To write an autobiography, you've got to expose other people. I hope to get out of this world as gracefully as possible, without embarrassing anyone.

My mom taught me a lot. A lot about minding your own business and leaving other people's business alone. And let them think what they want.

Screening telephone calls with a receptionist or the humbler answering machine is not a dishonorable thing to do. The warmest people in the world still need uninterrupted time to attend to their lives and should not be outwitted if they have made it obvious that they are not always available upon summons.

Never ask a man where he has been.

Love thy neighbor, but pull not down thy hedge.

I have a real problem when people say, "Well I walked by and you should have seen what was on the computer screen." Well, don't look, sweetie. It's none of your business. Avert your eyes.

She's afraid to tell me anything important, knowing I'll only turn around and write about it. In my mind, I'm like a friendly junkman, building things from the little pieces of scrap I find here and there, but my family's started to see things differently. Their personal lives are the so-called pieces of scrap I so casually pick up, and they're sick of it. More and more often their stories begin with the line "You have to swear you'll never repeat this." I always promise, but it's generally understood that my word means nothing.

Never crowd youngsters about their private affairs - sex especially.