The law of work seems unfair, but nothing can change it; the more enjoyment you get out of your work, the more money you will make.

The face of the water, in time, became a wonderful book- a book that was a dead language to the uneducated passenger, but which told its mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as clearly as if it uttered them with a voice. And it was not a book to be read once and thrown aside, for it had a new story to tell every day.

The human race consists of the damned and the ought-to-be damned.

My philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn English (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French in thirty days, and German in thirty years. It seems manifest, then, that the latter tongue ought to be trimmed down and repaired. If it is to remain as it is, it ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have time to learn it.

What is the chief end of man?-to get rich. In what way?-dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must.

Astonishing things can be done with the human memory if you will devote it faithfully to one particular line of business.

I've lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.