It is more comfortable for me, in the long run, to be rude than polite.

The puritanical potentialities of science have never been forecast. If it evolves a body of organized rites, and is established as a religion, hierarchically organized, things more than anything else will be done in the name of 'decency.' The coarse fumes of tobacco and liquors, the consequent tainting of the breath and staining of white fingers and teeth, which is so offensive to many women, will be the first things attended to.

Art is the expression of an enormous preference.

Revolutionary politics, revolutionary art, and oh, the revolutionary mind, is the dullest thing on earth. When we open a revolutionary review, or read a revolutionary speech, we yawn our heads off. It is true, there is nothing else. Everything is correctly, monotonously, dishearteningly revolutionary. What a stupid word! What a stale fuss!

The artist is always engaged in writing a detailed history of the future because he is the only person aware of the nature of the present.

It is more comfortable for me, in the long run, to be rude than polite.

No American worth his salt should go looking around for a root. I advance this in all modesty, as a not unreasonable opinion.