Whatever has "wit enough to keep it sweet" defies corruption and outlasts all time; but the wit must be of that outward and visible order which needs no introduction or demonstration at our hands.

The impulse to travel is one of the hopeful symptoms of life.

Personally, I do not believe that it is the duty of any man or woman to write a novel. In nine cases out of ten, there would be greater merit in leaving it unwritten.

I am eighty years old. There seems to be nothing to add to this statement. I have reached the age of undecorated facts - facts that refuse to be softened by sentiment, or confused by nobility of phrase.

Men who believe that, through some exceptional grace or good fortune, they have found God, feel little need of culture.

Believers in political faith-healing enjoy a supreme immunity from doubt.

It is difficult to admonish Frenchmen. Their habit of mind is unfavorable to preachment.