A public library is the most enduring of memorials, the trustiest monument for the preservation of an event or a name or an affection; for it, and it only, is respected by wars and revolutions, and survives them.

Some of the worst things in my life never even happened.

The true charm of pedestrians does not lie in the walking, or in the scenery, but in the talking.

I can understand German as well as the maniac that invented it, but I talk it best through an interpreter.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.

When one's character begins to fall under suspicion and disfavor, how swift, then, is the work of disintegration and destruction.

Truth is more of a stranger than fiction. When in doubt, tell the truth. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything. Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are economical in its use.