the announcement that you are going to tell a good story (and the chuckle that precedes it) is always a dangerous opening.

[To her host upon leaving a party:] Don't think it hasn't been charming, because it hasn't.

Convictions no doubt have to be modified or expanded to meet changing conditions but ... to be a reliable political leader sooner or later your anchors must hold fast where other men's drag.

I have been devoured all my life by an incurable and burning impatience: and to this day find all oratory, biography, operas, films, plays, books, and persons, too long.

It is easier to influence strong than weak characters in life.

There is nothing more perplexing in life than to know at what point you should surrender your intellect to your faith.

The first element of greatness is fundamental humbleness (this should not be confused with servility); the second is freedom from self; the third is intrepid courage, which, taken in its widest interpretation, generally goes with truth; and the fourth-the power of love-although I have put it last, is the rarest.