When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them--then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are far apart.

Compliments make me vain: & when I am vain, I am insolent & overbearing. It is a pity, too, because I love compliments. I love them even when they are not so. My child, I can live on a good compliment two weeks with nothing else to eat.

It is not worth while to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.

Once I talked to the inmates of an insane asylum in Hartford. I have talked to idiots a thousand times, but only once to the insane.

Progressive improvement beats delayed perfection.

We can't always have the beautiful aspect of things. Let us make the most of our sights that are beautiful and let the others go

The banging and slamming and booming and crashing were something beyond belief. [On Lohengrin]