I do not approve of anything which tampers with natural ignorance

One's days were too brief to take the burden of another's errors on one's shoulders. Each man lived his own life and paid his own price for living it.

It is a great mistake for men to give up paying compliments, for when they give up saying what is charming, they give up thinking what is charming.

History is only gossip.

California is an Italy without its art.

Believe me, no civilized man ever regrets a pleasure, and no uncivilized man ever knows what a pleasure is.

I would not a bit mind sleeping in the cool grass in summer, and when winter came on sheltering myself by the warm close-thatched rick, or under the penthouse of a great barn, provided I had love in my heart.