Until the men of action clear out the talkers we who have social consciences are at the mercy of those who have none.

Decency cannot be discussed without indecency!

Optimistic lies have such immense therapeutic value that a doctor who cannot tell them convincingly has mistaken his profession.

To a professional critic (I have been one myself) theatre-going is the curse of Adam. The play is the evil he is paid to endure in the sweat of his brow; and the sooner it is over, the better.

Social questions are too sectional, too topical, too temporal to move a man to the mighty effort which is needed to produce greatpoetry. Prison reform may nerve Charles Reade to produce an effective and businesslike prose melodrama; but it could never produce Hamlet, Faust, or Peer Gynt.

Besides, do any of us understand what we are doing? If we did, would we ever do it?

We mustn't be stiff and stand-off, you know. We must be thoroughly democratic, and patronize everybody without distinction of class.