It is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his reader is sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words, or his reader will certainly misunderstand them. Generally, also, a downright fact may be told in a plain way; and we want downright facts at present more than anything else.

No picture can be good which deceives by its imitation, for the very reason that nothing can be beautiful which is not true.

A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

People cannot live by lending money to one another.

The true grotesque being the expression of the repose or play of a serious mind, there is a false grotesque opposed to it, which is the result of the full exertion of a frivolous one.

No person who is not a great sculptor or painter can be an architect. If he is not a sculptor or painter, he can only be a builder.