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

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.

Lovers of the town have been content, for the most part, to say they loved it. They do not brag about its uplifting qualities. They have none of the infernal smugness which makes the lover of the country insupportable.

For my part, the good novel of character is the novel I can always pick up; but the good novel of incident is the novel I can never lay down.

Friendship takes time.

There is no illusion so permanent as that which enables us to look backward with complacency; there is no mental process so deceptive as the comparing of recollections with realities.

real letter-writing ... is founded on a need as old and as young as humanity itself, the need that one human being has of another.