The necessity of knowing a little about a great many things is the most grievous burden of our day. It deprives us of leisure on the one hand, and of scholarship on the other.

The thinkers of the world should by rights be guardians of the world's mirth.

Letters form a by-path of literature, a charming, but occasional, retreat for people of cultivated leisure.

Just as we are often moved to merriment for no other reason than that the occasion calls for seriousness, so we are correspondingly serious when invited too freely to be amused.

Humor, in one form or another, is characteristic of every nation; and reflecting the salient points of social and national life, it illuminates those crowded corners which history leaves obscure.

Neatness of phrase is so closely akin to wit that it is often accepted as its substitute.

What puzzles most of us are the things which have been left in the movies rather than the things which have been taken out.