I have witnessed and greatly enjoyed the first act of everything which Wagner created, but the effect on me has always been so powerful that one act was quite sufficient; whenever I have witnessed two acts I have gone away physically exhausted; and whenever I have ventured an entire opera the result has been the next thing to suicide.

I do not like an injurious lie, except when it injures somebody else.

The principle of give and take is the principle of diplomacy - give one and take ten

Carlyle said 'a lie cannot live.' It shows that he did not know how to tell them.

Whatever thing men call great, look for it in Joan of Arc, and there you will find it.

The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. It is said that leaders are readers. However if they read trashy magazines for the majority of their time and they never run with the information that they glean from resourceful books, then they may as well have not taken any time to read at all. It is easier to stay out than get out.

Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.