Never mistake motive for action.

it wasn't by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short.

No subject is terrible if the story is true, if the prose is clean and honest, and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure.

I decided that I would write one story about each thing that I knew about.

My only regret in life is that I did not drink more wine.

Everything you have is to give. Thou art a phenomenon of philosophy and an unfortunate man.

I wonder what your idea of heaven would be — A beautiful vacuum filled with wealthy monogamists. All powerful and members of the best families all drinking themselves to death. And hell would probably an ugly vacuum full of poor polygamists unable to obtain booze or with chronic stomach disorders that they called secret sorrows.