A child's instinct is almost perfect in the matter of fighting. The child's hero is always the man or boy who defends himself suddenly and splendidly against aggression.

I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.

Silence is the unbearable repartee.

Progress is a comparative of which we have not settled the superlative.

Passion makes every detail important.

The modern world has far too little understanding of the art of keeping young. Its notion of progress has been to pile one thing on top of another, without caring if each thing was crushed in turn. People forgot that the human soul can enjoy a thing most when there is time to think about it and be thankful for it. And by crowding things together they lost the sense of surprise; and surprise is the secret of joy.

Materialists and madmen never have doubts.