The best years are the forties; after fifty a man begins to deteriorate, but in the forties he is at the maximum of his villainy.

There are two kinds of music; German music and bad music.

The intellectual heritage of the race belongs to the minority.

They have taken the care and upbringing of children out of the hands of parents, where it belongs, and thrown it upon a gang of irresponsible and unintelligent quacks.

Of all the human qualities, the one I admire the most is competence. A tailor who is really able to cut and fit a coat seems to me an admirable man, and by the same token a university professor who knows little or nothing of the thing he presumes to teach seems to me to be a fraud and a rascal.

Writing books is certainly a most unpleasant occupation. It is lonesome, unsanitary, and maddening. Many authors go crazy.

The difference between the smartest dog and the stupidest man - say a Tennessee Holy Roller - is really very small.