Diplomacy is the lowest form of politeness because it misquotes the greatest number of people. A nation, like an individual, if it has anything to say, should simply say it.

Democracy is a request from a War Board, in the middle of a morning in the middle of a war, wanting to know what democracy is.

Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.

Necessity first mothered invention. Now invention has little ones of her own, and they look just like grandma.

A “fraternity” is the antithesis offraternity. The first (that is, the order or organization) is predicated on the idea of exclusion; the second (that is, the abstract thing) is based on a feeling of total equality.

Who can confidently say what ignites a certain combination of words, causing them to explode in the mind? Who knows why certain notes in music are capable of stirring the listener deeply, though the same notes slightly rearranged are impotent? These are high mysteries, and this chapter is a mystery story, thinly disguised.

The circus comes as close to being the world in microcosm as anything I know; in a way, it puts all the rest of show business in the shade.