Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch, which ought to be applied as sparingly as possible. I dislike the stuff. I do not believe in it, for its own sake, at all... My lawgivers are Erasmus and Montaigne, not Moses and St Paul. My temple stands not upon Mount Moriah but in the Elysian Field where even the immoral are admitted. My motto is 'Lord, I disbelieve - help thou my unbelief.

We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won't do harm - yes, choose a place where you won't do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine.

Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.

The king died and then the queen died is a story. The king died, and then queen died of grief is a plot.

Don't be mysterious; there isn't the time.

If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.

One of the evils of money is that it tempts us to look at it rather than at the things that it buys.