Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion.

It can destroy an individual, or it can fulfill him, depending a good deal on luck. No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky.

A schoolchild should be taught grammar—for the same reason that a medical student should study anatomy.

You have been my friends. That in itself is a tremendous thing.

Why is it, do you suppose, that an Englishman is unhappy until he has explained America?

No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader's intelligence or whose attitude is patronizing.

Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society — things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed.