I revolted from sentimentality, less because it was false than because it was cruel.

And where was happiness if it sprung not from the soil? Where contentment if it dwelt not near to Nature?

... to be "literary" appeared to my deluded innocence as an unending romance.

I am inclined to believe that a man may be free to do anything he pleases if only he will accept responsibility for whatever he does.

There wouldn't be half as much fun in the world if it weren't for children and men, and there ain't a mite of difference between them under the skins.

Only on the surface of things have I ever trod the beaten path. So long as I could keep from hurting anyone else, I have lived, as completely as it was possible, the life of my choice. I have been free. . . . I have done the work I wished to do for the sake of that work alone.

Too much principle is often more harmful than too little.