Prussia: freedom of movement with a muzzle. Austria: an isolation cell in which screaming is allowed.

To have no ideas and being able to express them is the essence of journalism.

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.

A father's pride, laid on thick, has always made me wish that the fellow had at least experienced some pain during procreation.

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.

Culture is the tacit agreement to let the means of subsistence disappear behind the purpose of existence.

Language is the only chimera whose illusory power is endless, the inexhaustibility which keeps life from being impoverished. Let men learn to serve language.