Don't you drink? I notice you speak slightingly of the bottle. I have drunk since I was fifteen and few things have given me more pleasure.

Man is not made for defeat.

Drinking is a way of ending the day.

My father was a deeply sentimental man. And like all sentimental men, he was also very cruel.

I started out very quiet and I beat Mr. Turgenev. Then I trained hard and I beat Mr. de Maupassant. I've fought two draws with Mr. Stendhal, and I think I had an edge in the last one. But nobody's going to get me in any ring with Mr. Tolstoy unless I'm crazy or I keep getting better.

Everybody has strange things that mean things to them. You couldn't help it.

That is what we are supposed to do when we are at our best - make it all up - but make it up so truly that later it will happen that way.