The man who says he has exhausted life generally means that life has exhausted him.

A process which makes one rogue cleverer than another.

In his very rejection of art Walt Whitman is an artist. He tried to produce a certain effect by certain means and he succeeded....He stands apart, and the chief value of his work is in its prophecy, not in its performance. He has begun a prelude to larger themes. He is the herald to a new era. As a man he is the precursor of a fresh type. He is a factor in the heroic and spiritual evolution of the human being. If Poetry has passed him by, Philosophy will take note of him.

It is absurd to say that there are neither ruins nor curiosities in America when they have their mothers and their manners.

You have always told me it was Ernest. I have introduced you to every one as Ernest. You answer to the name of Ernest. You look as if your name was Ernest. You are the most earnest-looking person I ever saw in my life. It is perfectly absurd your saying that your name isn't Ernest.

There is no feeling more comforting and consoling than knowing you are right next to the one you love.

If you cannot write well, you cannot think well; if you cannot think well, others will do your thinking for you.