But it was ever thus, all through my life: whenever I have diverged from custom and principle and uttered a truth, the rule has been that the hearer hadn't strength of mind enough to believe it.

Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of.

Hunger is the handmaid of genius

If I had been helping the Almighty when he created man, I would have had him begin at the other end, and start human beings with old age. How much better to start old and have all the bitterness and blindness of age in the beginning!

Perfect grammar - persistent, continuous, sustained - is the fourth dimension, so to speak; many have sought it, but none has found it.

Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to.

December is the toughest month of the year. Others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, October, August, and February.