It is one of the defects of my character that I cannot altogether dislike anyone who makes me laugh.

An author spends months writing a book, and maybe puts his heart's blood into it, and then it lies about unread till the reader has nothing else in the world to do.

The author always loads his dice, but he must never let the reader see that he has done so, and by the manipulation of his plot, he can engage the reader's attention so that he does not perceive the violence that has been done to him.

I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation.

What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one's memories.

When you are young you take the kindness people show you as your right.

You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humour teaches tolerance, and the humorist, with a smile and perhaps a sigh, is more likely to shrug his shoulders than to condemn.