It is Hell, of course, that makes priests powerful, not Heaven, for after thousands of years of so-called civilization fear remains the one common denominator of mankind

The truth is . . . that the great artists of the world are never puritans, and seldom ever ordinarily respectable. No virtuous man - that is, virtuous in the YMCA sense - has ever painted a picture worth looking at, or written a symphony worth hearing, or a book worth reading, and it is highly improbable that the thing has ever been done by a virtuous woman.

Nothing is so abject and pathetic as a politician who has lost his job, save only a retired stud-horse.

The function of a newspaper in a democracy is to stand as a sort of chronic opposition to the reigning quacks. The minute it begins to out-whoop them it forfeits its character and becomes ridiculous.

There is no idea so stupid that you can't find a professor who will believe it.

History deals mainly with captains and kings, gods and prophets, exploiters and despoilers, not with useful men.

Hanging one scoundrel, it appears, does not deter the next. Well, what of it? The first one is at least disposed of.