Mothers, of course, are all right. They pay a chap's bills and don't bother him. But fathers bother a chap and never pay his bills.

While we look to the dramatist to give romance to realism, we ask of the actor to give realism to romance.

The cities of America are inexpressibly tedious. The Bostonians take their learning too sadly; culture with them is an accomplishment rather than an atmosphere; their Hub, as they call it, is the paradise of prigs. Chicago is a sort of monster-shop, full of bustles and bores. Political life at Washington is like political life in a suburban vestry. Baltimore is amusing for a week, but Philadelphia is dreadfully provincial; and though one can dine in New York one could not dwell there.

The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.

I don't like Switzerland; it has produced nothing but theologians and waiters.

Many people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life. To have ruined one's self over poetry is an honor.

The job of the critic is to report to us his moods.