We are the masters at the moment, and not only at the moment, but for a very long time to come.

Those who understand the steam engine and the electric telegraph spend their lives in trying to replace them with something better.

Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart's desire; the other is to get it.

A man of genius is not a man who sees more than other men do. On the contrary, it is very often found that he is absentminded andobserves much less than other people.... Why is it that the public have such an exaggerated respect for him--after he is dead? The reason is that the man of genius understands the importance of the few things he sees.

The public want actresses, because they think all actresses bad. They don't want music or poetry because they know that both are good. So actors and actresses thrive and poets and composers starve.

The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.

When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and exhausting condition continuously until death do them part.