It is pleasure that lurks in the practice of every one of your virtues. Man performs actions because they are good for him, and when they are good for other people as well they are thought virtuous: if he finds pleasure in helping others he is benevolent; if he finds pleasure in working for society he is public-spirited; but it is for your private pleasure that you give twopence to a beggar as much as it is for my private pleasure that I drink another whiskey and soda. I, less of a humbug than you, neither applaud myself for my pleasure nor demand your admiration.

I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.

The subjunctive mood is in its death throes, and the best thing to do is to put it out of its misery as soon as possible.

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

If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn't matter a damn how you write.

It takes two to make a love affair and a mans meat is too often a woman's poison.

The author always loads his dice, but he must never let the reader see that he has done so.