We have in England a curious belief in first-rate people, meaning all the people we do not know; and this consoles us for the undeniable second-rateness of the people we do know.

No man who is occupied in doing a very difficult thing, and doing it very well, ever loses his self-respect.

We must all share in the evils of the world or move to another planet.

I have not wasted my life trifling with literary fools in taverns, as Johnson did, when he should have been shaking England with the thunder of his spirit

I'm only a beer teetotaler, not a champagne teetotaler; I don't like beer.

Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.

A contract for better for worse is a contract that should not be tolerated.