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

[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.

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.

Everything in a story should be credible.

We are capable of learning any art.

You can't screw up your own suicide and then expect the universe to give you presents wrapped in the skin of a wonderful boy. That's just not the way it works.

If you are covetous, you are a prisoner: If you are greedy, you will never be filled.

Isolation allows me to think more clearly, and I think out loud sometimes.After all, I wouldn't want to accuse anyone of plagiarism.

Wetenschap is wat wetenschappers doen - Science is what scientists do.

Why not pick up the new full-length motion picture at the corner drugstore and then run it through one's home TV receiver?

Music of all arts should be expansive and inclusive.

I hated my last boss. He asked, Why are you two hours late? I said, I fell downstairs. He said, That doesn't take two hours.

Even in traditional filmmaking, you're always trying to find novel ways of telling stories, and this is different.

Leadbelly's guitar is in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.