To me [Edgar Allen Poe's] prose is unreadable—like Jane Austin's [sic]. No there is a difference. I could read his prose on salary, but not Jane's. Jane is entirely impossible. It seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death.

I conceive that the right way to write a story for boys is to write so that it will not only interest boys but strongly interest any man who has ever been a boy. That immensely enlarges the audience.

Such is professional jealousy; a scientist will never show any kindness for a theory which he did not start himself.

Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.

The citizen who sees his society's democratic clothes being worn out and does not cry it out, is not a patriot, but a traitor.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

No real estate is permanently valuable but the grave.