Not one man in five cycles, who is wise, will expect appreciative recognition from his fellows, or any one of them.

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.

I am, as I am; whether hideous, or handsome, depends upon who is made judge.

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well- warmed, and well-fed.

Dream tonight of peacock tails, Diamond fields and spouter whales. Ills are many, blessing few, But dreams tonight will shelter you.

Toil is man's allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief that's more than either, the grief and sin of idleness.

Meditation and water are wedded for ever.

I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.

Aye, aye! and I'll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up.

War should be carried on like a monsoon; one changeless determination of every particle towards the one unalterable aim.

Fashion should be a form of escapism, and not a form of imprisonment.

Do not think of all your anxieties you will only make yourself ill.

Since my little daughter is only half Jewish would it be alright if she went into the pool only up to her waist?

Fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run.

The business of the poet is not to find new emotions, but to use the ordinary ones and, in working them up into poetry, to express feelings which are not in actual emotions at all.

I don't spend much money on clothes; I never did.

There are three periods in life: youth, middle age and "how well you look".

My mother and my father went to the cinema for the first time when I made my first movie in 1978.

God has given me the grace to see some of the seeds that I have sown bear good fruit, and I am so grateful.

I drink therefore I am.