No woman really wants a man to carry her off; she only wants him to want to do it.

Martyrdom is often the result of excessive gullibility.

Peculiar or not, it is my idea of pleasure. Why, why else do you lead this life you don't enjoy it? Don't talk of duty to me; you men always have some high-sounding excuse for indulging yourselves. You go gallivanting over the earth, climbing mountains, looking for the sources of the Nile; and expect women to sit dully at home embroidering. I embroider very badly. I think I would excavate rather well.

Reputations are shaped not by facts but by prejudices.

Getting an idea for a book is not the problem, but you need 300 ideas - an idea a page.

Emerson,' I said, choosing my words with care, 'it is a sheer drop from the cleft down to the base of the cliff. If you are bent on breaking your arm or your leg or your neck or all three, find a place closer to home so we won't have to carry you such a distance.

Noble causes have a deplorable effect on the morals of the persons who espouse them.