There's no such thing as intelligent vanity. It's an instinct. And you'll never find a man who is not first and foremost vain.

The more one is hated, I find, the happier one is.

There is no rest for the humble except in despising the great, whose only thought of the people is inspired by self-interest or sadism.

An unfamiliar city is a fine thing. That's the time and place when you can suppose that all the people you meet are nice. It's dream time.

To philosophize is only another way of being afraid and leads hardly anywhere but to cowardly make-believe.

The novel can't compete with cars, the movies, television, and liquor. A guy who's had a good feed and tanked up on good wine gives his old lady a kiss after supper and his day is over. Finished.

Living, just by itself - what a dirge that is! Life is a classroom and Boredom's the usher, there all the time to spy on you; whatever happens, you've got to look as if you were awfully busy all the time doing something that's terribly exciting - or he'll come along and nibble your brain.