What was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder. It was not merely a world full of miracles; it was a miraculous world.

The man who throws a bomb is an artist, because he prefers a great moment to everything.

Every politician is emphatically a promising politician.

The only words that ever satisfied me as describing nature are the terms used in fairy books, charm, spell, enchantment; they express the arbitrariness of the fact and its mystery.

We can be almost certain of being wrong about the future, if we are wrong about the past.

I have formed a very clear conception of patriotism. I have generally found it thrust into the foreground by some fellow who has something to hide in the background. I have seen a great deal of patriotism; and I have generally found it the last refuge of the scoundrel.

A great city is the place to escape the true drama of provincial life, and find solace in fantasy.