The shaping of taste is essentially the science of merchandising, whether of detergents or cars or books or objects of fine and decorative art.

A lady is nothing very specific. One man's lady is another man's woman; sometimes, one man's lady is another man's wife. Definitions overlap but they almost never coincide.

The bungalow had more to do with how Americans live today than any other building that has gone remotely by the name of architecture in our history.

If you can't ignore an insult, top it; if you can't top it, laugh it off; and if you can't laugh it off, it's probably deserved.

The world of the arts is by no means always comfortable, but neither is it likely ever to be boring. It is full of surprises, humor, traps for the unwary, and challenges to smugness. It is a world of moods as well as of revelation, of beliefs and fears, of unpleasant truth as well as of delicious fantasy. Perhaps it is arrogant to say that anyone who does not venture into this world is only half-interested in life. I say it, nonetheless.

Clutter is what happens to things when they become useless but friendly.

A truly appreciative child will break, lose, spoil, or fondle to death any really successful gift within a matter of minutes.