I think, for the rest of my life, I shall refrain from looking up things. It is the most ravenous time-snatcher I know. You pull one book from the shelf, which carries a hint or a reference that sends you posthaste to another book, and that to successive others. It is incredible, the number of books you hopefully open and disappointedly close, only to take down another with the same result.

A critic is a necessary evil, and criticism is an evil necessity.

One of the first principles of perseverance is to know when to stop persevering.

Actions lie louder than words.

A cynic is a man who looks at the world with a monocle in his mind's eye.

I am more fond of achieving than striving. My theories must prove to be facts or be discarded as worthless. My efforts must soon be crowned with success, or discontinued.

A living gale is better than a dead calm.