it is better to take experience, to suffer, to love, and to remember than to walk unscathed between the fires. I've had most immunities myself - the result of an independent income combined with a personality completely devoid of sexual attractions - the two fires of poverty and passion have therefore never burned me, and I am a lesser person for my safety.

The more I see of dogs, the more I like children.

The crown of life is neither happiness nor annihilation; it is understanding.

A sense of humor is so handy, isn't it? It lets you see both sides of a question so that you never need do anything.

Nature is not silent, and never was a name more derisively inappropriate than when we speak of these non-human creatures who hoot and crow and bray as the dumb animals.

What with the reviews of critics, the sarcasms of one's friends, the reproaches of one's own taste, there's precious little peace after publishing a book.

[On golf:] One of the most distressing defects of civilization.