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.

There are many humorous things in the world; among them, the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages.

Man is the only creature who has a nasty mind.

Good judgment comes from experience. And where does experience come from? Experience comes from bad judgment.

You can't keep a juvenile moral institution alive on two displays of its sash per year.

An occultation of Venus is not half so difficult as an eclipse of the sun, but because it comes seldom the world thinks it's a grand thing.

Learn from the mistakes of others - you won't live long enough to make them all yourself. He's opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer him the position.