I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be the respected patriarch of an ordinary English family." "Very boring, Emerson.

People who relate what they believe to be new and startling information like to have such information received with exclamations of astonishment and admiration.

I disapprove of matrimony as a matter of principle.... Why should any independent, intelligent female choose to subject herself to the whims and tyrannies of a husband? I assure you, I have yet to meet a man as sensible as myself! (Amelia Peabody)

I have learned that particularly clever ideas do not always stand up under close scrutiny.

It's not unsporting to thrash a cowardly cad,' said Simmons. 'Everyone knows you don't fight like a gentleman.' 'That might be called an oxymoron,' Ramses said. 'Oh--sorry. Bad form to use long words. Look it up when you get home.' The poor devil didn't know how to fight, like a gentleman or otherwise.

When one is striding bravely into the future one cannot watch one's footing.

I do not scruple to employ mendacity and a fictitious appearance of female incompetence when the occasion demands it.