Read over your compositions and whenever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.

Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.

A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

All things fade into the storied past, and in a little while are shrouded in oblivion.

You cannot judge any man beyond your knowledge of him, and how small is your knowledge.

It takes courage to lead a life. Any life.

I'm a really heavy sleeper. When I wake up I'm a terrible morning person.

Yet, ironically, it is her very wretchedness that makes me pity her so. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know what to do!

This is naturally the most important thing, the dark traces left by the era of totalitarianism in the human mind, where is - are difficult to do away with. And this is a very demanding job.

Listen real hard to the smartest guy in the room before you go trying to prove how smart you are.

I don’t think any man writing can worry about what the act of writing costs him, even though at times he is very aware of it.

I'll write, because I'll give - You critics means to live; For should I not supply - The cause, the effect would die

Ambition may be defined as the willingness to receive any number of hits on the nose.