Make (the reader) think the evil, make him think it for himself, and you are released from weak specifications. My values are positively all blanks, save so far as an excited horror, a promoted pity, a created expertness... proceed to read into them more or less fantastic figures.

I am incapable of telling you not to feel. Feel, feel, I say - feel for all you're worth, and even if it half kills you, for that is the only way to live.

...he had long decided that abundant laughter should be the embellishment of the remainder of his days.

Most English talk is a quadrille in a sentry-box.

There are women who are for all your 'times of life.' They're the most wonderful sort.

Any point of view is interesting that is a direct impression of life. You each have an impression colored by your individual conditions; make that into a picture, a picture framed by your own personal wisdom, your glimpse of the American world.

I've always expected the worst, and it's always worse than I expected.