No matter how corrupt and unjust a convict may be, he loves fairness more than anything else. If the people placed over him are unfair, from year to year he lapses into an embittered state characterized by an extreme lack of faith.

When asked, "Why do you always wear black?", he said, "I am mourning for my life.

If there is a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, it must fire in the last.

Country acquaintances are charming only in the country and only in the summer. In the city in winter they lose half of their appeal.

Watching a woman make Russian pancakes, you might think that she was calling on the spirits or extracting from the batter the philosopher's stone.

Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he's been given.

Everyone judges plays as if they were very easy to write. They don't know that it is hard to write a good play, and twice as hardand tortuous to write a bad one.