[On Gertrude Stein's Making of Americans:] I doubt if all the people who should read it will read it for a great while yet, for it is in such a limited edition, and reading it is anyhow a sort of permanent occupation.

I will never again attempt to tell any young person what to do - the really gifted don't need advice and the others can't take it.

A cultivated style would be like a mask. Everybody knows it's a mask, and sooner or later you must show yourself -- or at least, you show yourself as someone who could not afford to show himself, and so created something to hide behind. You do not create a style. You work, and develop yourself; your style is an emanation from your own being.

It is such a relief to be told the truth.

You do not create a style. You work, and develop yourself; your style is an emanation from your own being.

Perhaps the habit which distinguishes civilized people from others is that of discussion, exchange of opinion and ideas, the ability to differ without quarrelling, to say what you have to say civilly and then to listen civilly to another speaker.

Trust your happiness and the richness of your life at this moment. It is as true and as much yours as anything else that ever happened to you.