Now when I had mastered the language of this water, and had come to know every trifling feature that bordered the great river as familiarly as I knew the letters of the alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition. But I had lost something, too. I had lost something which could never be restored me while I lived. All the grace, the beauty, the poetry, had gone out of the majestic river!

I can't do no literary work for the rest of this year because I'm meditating another lawsuit and looking around for a defendant.

The writing begins when you’ve finished. Only then do you know what you’re trying to say.

There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless.

Your friends may love you in private but your enemies will hate you in public.

In Austria an editor who can write well is valuable, but he is not likely to remain so unless he can handle a sabre with charm.

The Bible is a wonderful book; you can prove anything you want with it.