Nothing is poetical if plain daylight is not poetical; and no monster should amaze us if the normal man does not amaze.

Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he put in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs? We thank people for birthday presents of cigars and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth?

And though St. John saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators.

A man cannot have the energy to produce good art without having the energy to wish to pass beyond it.

The modern world... has no notion except that of simplifying something by destroying nearly everything.

A great deal of contemporary criticism reads to me like a man saying, 'Of course I do not like green cheese. I am very fond of brown sherry.

The woman does not work because the man tells her to work and she obeys. On the contrary, the woman works because she has told the man to work and he hasn’t obeyed.