What readers ask nowadays in a book is that it should improve, instruct, and elevate. This book wouldn't elevate a cow.

It is always the best policy to speak the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.

I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.

People who have tried it, tell me that a clear conscience makes you very happy and contented; but a full stomach does the business quite as well, and is cheaper, and more easily obtained.

A good woman's arms round a man's neck is a lifebelt thrown out to him from heaven.

Opportunities flit by while we sit regretting the chances we have lost, and the happiness that comes to us we heed not, because of the happiness that is gone.

Love is like the measles; we all have to go through it.

They [dogs] never talk about themselves but listen to you while you talk about yourself, and keep up an appearance of being interested in the conversation.

What I am looking for is a blessing not in disguise.

It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.

If there is one person I do despise more than another, it is the man who does not think exactly the same on all topics as I do.

Adventure should be part of everyone's life. It is the whole difference between being fully alive and just existing.

The happiest people are not those who have the best things, but those who enjoy the life and get the most of it with what they have.

For us Africans, literature must serve a purpose: to expose, embarrass, and fight corruption and authoritarianism. It is understandable why the African artist is utilitarian.

Enthusiasm is the inspiration of everything great. Without it no man is to be feared, and with it none despised.

It's a difficult question of relations between people.

Remember, I have a Ph.D. in English literature.

Greatness is best measured by how well an individual responds to the happenings in life that appear to be totally unfair, unreasonable, and undeserved.

You can't tell big dreams to small minded people.

It's all complete instinct and intuition, and that's extremely difficult to teach.

A poem is a small machine made of words.