Subtlety chases the obvious up a never-ending spiral and never quite catches it.

I still can't decide which is more fun - reading or writing.

[A] pessimist gets nothing but pleasant surprises, an optimist nothing but unpleasant.

You can't dance cheerfully. Dancing is too important. It can be wild or solemn or gay or lewd or art for art's sake, but it can't be cheerful.

If I'm home with no chore at hand, and a package of books has come, the television set and the chess board and the unanswered mail will have to manage without me if one of the books is a detective story.

The requisitions of the income tax have added greatly to the attractions of mercenary crime.

I like to walk around Manhattan, catching glimpses of its wild life, the pigeons and cats and girls.