There are two kinds of characters in all fiction, the born and the synthetic. If the writer has to ask himself questions - is he tall, is he short? - he had better quit.

[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.

Never deviate off the path that society has set for you. Otherwise you may find yourself in a place that you like.

You can do the impossible, because you have been through the unthinkable.

There is no illusion so permanent as that which enables us to look backward with complacency; there is no mental process so deceptive as the comparing of recollections with realities.

The child of God works not for life, but from life; he does not work to be saved, but works because he is saved

For a man's house is his castle, et domus sua cuique tutissimum refugium [and one's home is the safest refuge to everyone].

I have now a library of nearly nine hundred volumes, over seven hundred of which I wrote myself.

I thought I'd do something nice for the band... I'll hang myself.

Do I think I was put here on earth to be a journalist and to seek truth? No, I don't.

Each performance and each film is what it is. It's right and belongs within that moment. You look at it and try to make it fit your particular part of your character and your particular film.

Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.