Strength and success - they are above morality, above criticism. It seems, then, that it is not what you do, but how you do it and what you call it. Is there a check in men, deep in them, that stops or punishes? There doesn't seem to be. The only punishment is for failure. In effect no crime is committed unless a criminal is caught.

Sometimes, a lie is told in kindness. I don't believe it ever works kindly. The quick pain of truth can pass away, but the slow, eating agony of a lie is never lost.

If a story is not about the hearer, he will not listen. And here I make a rule—a great and interesting story is about everyone or it will not last.

(Suicide) takes some doing, with maybe pain and maybe hell.

In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved.

In nature two things do not occur-the wheel and good taste.

... every little boy thinks he invented sin.