A tranquil woman can go on sewing longer than an angry man can go on fuming.

Idiots are always in favour of inequality of income (their only chance of eminence), and the really great in favour of equality.

The art of government is the organization of idolatry. The bureaucracy consists of functionaries; the aristocracy, of idols; the democracy, of idolaters. The populace cannot understand the bureaucracy: it can only worship the national idols.

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances.

There is, on the whole, nothing on earth intended for innocent people so horrible as a school. To begin with, it is a prison. But in some respects more cruel than a prison. In a prison, for instance, you are not forced to read books written by the warders and the governor. . . .In the prison you are not forced to sit listening to turnkeys discoursing without charm or interest on subjects that they don't understand and don't care about, and therefore incapable of making you understand or care about. In a prison they may torture your body; but they do not torture your brains.

A serious illness or a death advertises the doctor exactly as a hanging advertises the barrister who defended the person hanged.

The only person who acts sensibly is my tailor. He takes my measure anew every time he sees me. Everyone else goes by their old measurements.