No throne exists that has a right to exist, and no symbol of it, flying from any flagstaff, is righteously entitled to wear any device but the skull and crossbones of that kindred industry which differs from royalty only businesswise-merely as retail differs from wholesale.

A man has no business to be depressed by a disappointment, anyway; he ought to make up his mind to get even.

A man who is not born with the novel-writing gift has a troublesome time of it when he tries to build a novel. I know this from experience. He has no clear idea of his story; in fact he has no story. He merely has some people in his mind, and an incident or two, also a locality, and he trusts he can plunge those people into those incidents with interesting results.

There are three kinds of liars: liars, damned liars, and statisticians

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident; the only earthly certainty is oblivion.

Not until you become a stranger to yourself will you be able to make acquaintance with the Friend.

The public is the only critic whose judgment is worth anything at all.