Nothing ought to be told, I think that does not interest or kindle one's own mind in looking back; it is the only condition on which one can hope to interest or kindle other minds.

The thoughts and opinions of one human being, if they are sincere, must always have an interest for some other human beings. The world is there to think about; and if we have lived, or are living, with any sort of energy, we must have thought about it, and about ourselves in relation to it - thought 'furiously' often. And it is out of the many 'thinkings' of many folk, strong or weak, dull or far-ranging, that thought itself grows.

praise is a great tonic, and helps most people to do their best.

I cannot hope that what I have to say will be very interesting to many.

I regard the whole university system as a wretched sham. Knowledge! It has no more to do with knowledge than my boots.

We enjoy the great prophets of literature most when we have not yet lived enough to realize all they tell us.

In this choice, as I look back over more than half a century, I can only follow - and trust - the same sort of instinct that one follows in the art of fiction.