As soon as Oliver Twist is serialized, people who would never dream of reading [Charles] Dickens, if they hadn't seen him on their box, buy the paperback.

What kind of human person has a favorite eraser?

Nothing is so impenetrable as laughter in a language you don't understand.

I'm not a critic so much of my own writing. People must make up their own minds over that.

How would I myself live in this proposed society? How long would it be before I went stark staring mad?

Ralph... would treat the day's decisions as though he were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a very good chess player.

How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper?