There is no such thing as an ordinary life.

Ideally a book would have no order to it, and the reader would have to discover his own.

Praise is well, compliment is well, but affection-that is the last and most precious reward that any man can win, whether by character or achievement.

The exercise of an extraordinary gift is the supremest pleasure in life.

It{California} is the land where the fabled Aladdin's Lamp lies buried-and she {San Francisco} is the new Aladdin who shall seize it from its obscurity and summon the genie and command him to crown her with power and greatness and bring to her feet the hoarded treasures of the earth.

Knighterrantry is a most chuckleheaded trade, and it is tedious hard work, too, but I begin to see that there is money in it, after all, if you have luck. Not that I would ever engage in it, as a business, for I wouldn't. No sound and legitimate business can be established on a basis of speculation. A successful whirl in the knighterrantry line--now what is it when you blow away the nonsense and come down to the cold facts? It's just a corner in pork, that's all.

When some men discharge an obligation, you can hear the report for miles around.