[On Hollywood:] I had gone there expecting to see parties that reflected the stock-in-trade of the movies - glamour. Instead, I found the same attitude toward parties that European peasants had for baths. It was something to be done methodically every Saturday night.

Nothing spoils a good party like a genius.

I make enemies deliberately. They are the sauce piquante to my dish of life.

Cocktails are society's most enduring invention!

Someone has said that life itself is a party: you join after it's started and you leave before it's finished.

People who have escaped from poverty are like old soldiers. In later years they recount the little, amusing incidents that happened infrequently, and conveniently forget the long, unrelieved stretches of misery and boredom.

Giving parties is a trivial avocation, but it pays the dues for my union card in humanity.