Except for half a dozen in each town the citizens are proud of that achievement of ignorance which is so easy to come by. To be 'intellectual' or 'artistic' or, in their own word, to be 'highbrow,' is to be priggish and of dubious virtue.

He loved the people just as much as he feared and detested persons.

The cocktail filled him with a whirling exhilaration behind which he was aware of devastating desires—to rush places in fast motors, to kiss girls, to sing, to be witty. ... He perceived that he had gifts of profligacy which had been neglected. —chapter 8

When audiences come to see us authors lecture, it is largely in the hope that we'll be funnier to look at than to read.

Every compulsion is put upon writers to become safe, polite, obedient, and sterile.

What are these unheard of sins you condemn so much - and like so well?

You're so earnest about morality that I hate to think how essentially immoral you must be underneath.