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

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

Real bibliophiles do not put their books on shelves for people to look at or handle. They have no desire to show off their darlings, or to amaze people with their possessions. They keep their prized books hidden away in a secret spot to which they resort stealthily, like a Caliph visiting his harem, or a church elder sneaking into a bar. To be a book collector is to combine the worst characteristics of a dope-fiend with those of a miser.

Oh hearts! Nobody gets through life without a broken heart. The important thing is to break the heart so that when it mends it will be stronger than before.

Too much traffic with a quotation book begets a conviction of ignorance in a sensitive reader. Not only is there a mass of quotable stuff he never quotes, but an even vaster realm of which he has never heard.

When a man is down on his luck he seems to consume all he can get of coffee and doughnuts.

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