I would have stage-fright if I had to speak with every one of the people before whom I speak.

The discovery of the North Pole is one of those realities which could not be avoided. It is the wages which human perseverance pays itself when it thinks that something is taking too long. The world needed a discoverer of the North Pole, and in all areas of social activity, merit was less important here than opportunity.

There are writers who can express in as little as twenty pages what I occasionally need as many as two for.

In Berlin, things are serious but not hopeless. In Vienna, they are hopeless but not serious.

There are women who are not beautiful but only look that way.

The world has become uglier since it began to look into a mirror every day; so let us settle for the mirror image and do without an inspection of the original.

A weak man has doubts before a decision; a strong man has them afterwards.