Sentimentality is the only sentiment that rubs you the wrong way.

When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character.

You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action. In France you get freedom of action: you can do what you like and nobody bothers, but you must think like everybody else. In Germany you must do what everybody else does, but you may think as you choose. They're both very good things. I personally prefer freedom of thought. But in England you get neither: you're ground down by convention. You can't think as you like and you can't act as you like. That's because it's a democratic nation. I expect America's worse.

Throw yourself into the hurly-burly of life. It doesn't matter how many mistakes you make, what unhappiness you have to undergo. It is all your material ... Don't wait for experience to come to you; go out after experience. Experience is your material.

People who ask for your criticism want only praise.

We know our friends by their defects rather than by their merits.

Any society that values wealth above freedom will lose its freedom, and will ultimately lose its wealth as well