I made up my mind long ago that life was too short to do anything for myself that I could pay others to do for me.

It is not for nothing that artists have called their works the children of their brains and likened the pains of production to the pains of childbirth.

I am told that today rather more than 60 per cent of the men who go to the universities go on a Government grant. This is a new class that has entered upon the scene ... They are scum.

Dullness is the first requisite of a good husband.

For the complete life, the perfect pattern includes old age as well as youth and maturity.

The world is hard and cruel. We are here none knows why, and we go none knows whither. We must be very humble. We must see the beauty of quietness. We must go through life so inconspicuously that Fate does not notice us. And let us seek the love of simple, ignorant people. Their ignorance is better than all our knowledge. Let us be silent, content in our little corner, meek and gentle like them. That is the wisdom of life.

Only a mediocre person is always at his best.