One of the misfortunes of our time is that in getting rid of false shame, we have killed off so much real shame as well.

Old age is an excellent time for outrage. My goal is to say or do at least one outrageous thing every week.

The moving van is a symbol of more than our restlessness, it is the most conclusive evidence possible of our progress.

Doubtless a good general rule for close friendships, where confidences are freely exchanged, is that what one is not informed about, one may not inquire about.

Has there ever been an age so rife with neurotic sensibility, with that state of near shudders, or near hysteria, or near nausea, much of it induced by trifles, which used to belong to people who were at once ill-adjusted and over-civilized?

With intellectuals, moral thought is often less a tonic that quickens ethical action than a narcotic that deadens it.

The fascinating necessarily tends to call a certain attention to itself; the interesting need not. An evening spent with a fascinating person leaves vivid memories; one spent with interesting people has merely a sort of bouquet.