In my experience tact is usually worse than the brutalities of truth.

The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealized past.

Few people can see genius in someone who has offended them.

I was not sure I wanted to issue orders to life; I rather liked the Greek notion of allowing Chance to take a formative hand in my affairs.

You're all mad for words. Words are just farts from a lot of fools who have swallowed too many books. Give me things!

I just am a Canadian. It is not a thing which you can escape from. It is like having blue eyes

These matters require what I think of as the Shakespearean cast of thought. That is to say, a fine credulity about everything, kept in check by a lively skepticism about everything.... It keeps you constantly alert to every possibility.