Wit is the only wall between us and the dark.

Wisdom before experience is only words; wisdom after experience is of no avail.

It’s a curious thing. I suppose most people think of artists as impatient but I don’t know of any first-rate artist who hasn’t manifested in his career an appalling patience, a willingness to wait and to do his best now in the expectation that next year he will do better.

Nothing in man is more serious than his sense of humor; it is the sign that he wants all the truth.

There is no appeal from the ways of the world, which must continue on its own terms or take us all down with it into chaos and confusion.

I love the fall. I love it because of the smells that you speak of; and also because things are dying, things that you don't have to take care of anymore, and the grass stops growing.

Any piece of knowledge I acquire today has a value at this moment exactly proportional to my skill to deal with it. Tomorrow, when I know more, I recall that piece of knowledge and use it better.