A good writer does not receive anywhere near the number of poison-pen letters that is commonly assumed. Among a hundred jackassesthere are not ten who will admit to being jackasses, and at most one who will put it in writing.

Curses on the law! Most of my fellow citizens are the sorry consequences of uncommitted abortions.

The triumph of morality: A thief who has broken into a bedroom claims his sense of shame had been outraged, and by threatening theoccupants with exposure of an immoral act he blackmails them into not bringing charges for burglary.

Many desire to kill me, and many wish to spend an hour chatting with me. The law protects me from the former.

One can translate an editorial but not a poem. For one can go across the border naked but not without one's skin; for, unlike clothes, one cannot get a new skin.

Education is a crutch with which the foolish attack the wise to prove that they are not idiots.

One's need for loneliness is not satisfied if one sits at a table alone. There must be empty chairs as well.