Great music is in a sense serene; it is certain of the values it asserts.

In England and America a beard usually means that its owner would rather be considered venerable than virile; on the continent of Europe it often means that its owner makes a special claim to virility.

Babbitt as a book was planless; its end arrived apparently because its author had come to the end of the writing-pad, or rather, one might suspect from its length, to the end of all writing-pads then on the market.

every human activity, whether it be love, philosophy, art, or revolution, is carried on with a special intensity in Paris.

All men should have a drop of treason in their veins, if nations are not to go soft like so many sleepy pears.

domestic work is the most elementary form of labor. It is suitable for those with the intelligence of rabbits. All it requires is cleanlines, tidiness and quickness - not moral or intellectual qualities at all, but merely the outward and visible signs of health.

International relationships are preordained to be clumsy gestures based on imperfect knowledge.