You must all know half a dozen people at least who are no use in this world, who are more trouble than they are worth. Just put them there and say Sir, or Madam, now will you be kind enough to justify your existence? If you can't justify your existence, if you're not pulling your weight in the social boat, if you're not producing as much as you consume or perhaps a little more, then, clearly, we cannot use the organizations of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive, because your life does not benefit us and it can't be of very much use to yourself.

It is clear that a novel cannot be too bad to be worth publishing. . . . It certainly is possible for a novel to be too good to be worth publishing.

Start with the belief that your life can indeed be changed, and that you have the power to change it.

The capacity of any conqueror is more likely than not to be an illusion produced by the incapacity of his adversary.

Compassion is the fellow-feeling of the unsound.

When a man says money can do anything, that settles it: he hasn't got any.

Every dream is a prophecy: every jest is an earnest in the womb of Time.