There is absolutely no point in sitting down to write a book unless you feel that you must write that book, or else go mad, or die.

Imagination is a good horse to carry you over the ground - not a flying carpet to set you free from probability.

A big man is always accused of gluttony, whereas a wizened or osseous man can eat like a refugee at every meal, and no one ever notices his greed.

A boy is a man in miniature, and though he may sometimes exhibit notable virtue, as well as characteristics that seem to be charming because they are childlike, he is also a schemer, self-seeker, traitor, Judas, crook, and villain - in short, a man.

Love affairs are for emotional sprinters; the pleasures of love are for the emotional marathoners.

Very often when I am introduced to women, I think, What is she really like behind the disguise which she wears? And very often I discover that she is pleasant enough, and probably would expand and glow if she received enough affection.

On the whole, we treat the Devil shamefully, and the worse we treat Him the more He laughs at us.