Next to possessing genius one's self is the power of appreciating it in others.

There is nothing in the world like persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus.

It is sound judgment to put on a bold face and play your hand for a hundred times what it is worth; forty-nine times out of fifty nobody dares to call it, and you roll in the chips.

How little a thing can make us happy when we feel that we have earned it.

You may have noticed that the less I know about a subject the more confidence I have, and the more new light I throw on it.

I am technically "boss" of the family which I am carrying along-but I am grateful to know that it is only technically - that the real authority rests on the other side of the house. It is placed there by a beneficent Providence, who foresaw before I was born, or, if he did not, he has found it out since - that I am not in any way qualified to travel alone.

There is no such thing as the Queen's English. The property has gone into the hands of a joint stock company and we own the bulk of the shares!