Everything in a story should be credible.

[A] pessimist gets nothing but pleasant surprises, an optimist nothing but unpleasant.

The only thing I want is something I can't have; and that is to know if, 100 years from now, people will still buy my books.

I have a strong moral sense - by my standards.

Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.

Measure your minds height by the shadow it casts.

Being broke is not a disgrace, it is only a catastrophe.

Every Sherlock Holmes story has at least one marvelous scene.

Sarcasm is not the rapier of wit its wielders seem to believe it to be, but merely a club: it may, by dint of brute force, occasionally raise bruises, but it never cuts or pierces.

The more you put in your brain, the more it will hold - if you have one.

I don't approve of open fires. You can't think, or talk or even make love in front of a fireplace. All you can do is stare at it.

The failure of the citizens to pray for the nation will lead to its collapse.

Many times in life, those who do the most correcting, need the most correcting.

She said I do on day 482, and gave me a son on day 761.

He who pretends to look on death without fear lies. All men are afraid of dying, this is the great law of sentient beings, without which the entire human species would soon be destroyed.

It would be a stronger world, a stronger, loving world, to die in.

Civil disobedience can only lead to strength and purity.

Playing Christ, I began to feel shut away from the world. A newspaper became one of my biggest luxuries. I noticed that some of my close friends began treating me with reverence.

I now see that sorrow, being the supreme emotion of which man is capable, is at once the type and test of all great art.

Humility is a natural symptom of those who love God.

To the optimist, obstacles aare challenges, roadblocks are inspirations, and problems are invitations to achievement.