Any preoccupation with ideas of what is right or wrong in conduct shows an arrested intellectual development.

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.

I feel that if I kept it secret it might grow in my mind (as poisonous things grow in the dark) and take its place with the other terrible thoughts that gnaw me

No publisher should ever express an opinion on the value of what he publishes. That is a matter entirely for the literary critic to decide. I can quite understand how any ordinary critic would be strongly prejudiced against a work that was accompanied by a premature and unnecessary panegyric from the publisher. A publisher is simply a useful middle-man. It is not for him to anticipate the verdict of criticism.

Philanthropic people lose all sense of humanity. It is their distinguishing characteristic.

The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly scandalous. It looks so bad. It is simply washing one's clean linen in public.

If God really wanted to punish, he'd answer all our prayers.