The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.

Their quarrel was no more surprising than are most quarrels — inevitable at the time, incredible afterwards.

No one is more triumphant than the man who chooses a worthy subject and masters all its facts.

No man can be an agnostic who has a sense of humour.

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

People have their own deaths as well as their own lives, and even if there is nothing beyond death, we shall differ in our nothingness.

Chess is a forcing house where the fruits of character can ripen more fully than in life