I think there is one smashing rule: never face the facts.

I feel that much of the world's sorrow comes from people who are this, yet allow themselves to be treated as that.

You have to have a talent for having talent.

A lot of people enjoy being dead. But they are not dead, really. They're just backing away from life.

At seventy-four I'm getting minor raves on my looks, but I'm caught in the middle. Who knows what seventy-four looks like? Who cares? But if I'd listened to my friends, I could now lie and say I'm eighty-four. For eighty-four, the way I look is spectacular.

If you're thinking of becoming a critic, why not make other plans?

Life is getting through the moment. The philosopher William James says to cultivate the cheerful attitude. Now nobody had more trouble than he did -- except me. I had more trouble in my life than anybody. But your first big trouble can be a bonanza if you live through it. Get through the first trouble, you'll probably make it through the next one.