People are always good company when they are doing what they really enjoy.

They say the test of [literary power] is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, "Can he name a kitten?" And by this test I am condemned, for I cannot.

Arguments are like fire-arms which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him.

Inspiration is never genuine if it is known as inspiration at the time. True inspiration always steals on a person; its importance not being fully recognized for some time.

There is no such source of error as the pursuit of absolute truth.

The human intellect owes its superiority over that of the lower animals in great measure to the stimulus which alcohol has given imagination.

It is not sufficiently considered in the hour of exultation, that all human excellence is comparative; that no man performs much but in proportion to what other accomplish, or to the time and opportunities which have been allowed him.