Parents and children seldom act in concert: each child endeavors to appropriate the esteem or fondness of the parents, and the parents, with yet less temptation, betray each other to their children.

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.

What kind of life can you have in a house without books?

Why do lazy, minimum effort employees always seem to find places where they feel "underappreciated"?

A great personality is the most important beauty of any woman. Physical appearance is only temporary.

Once the fired stone is out of the kiln, it is still possible to mentally reconstruct it in its original form.

The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails.

The aims of anarchists and true communists are identical.

My brushwork is quite unsystematic. I slam the paint on in all sorts of ways and leave each result to take care of itself.

We cannot and should not stop people from migration. We have to give them a better life at home. Migration is a process, not a problem.

It's no longer enough to teach our children Bible stories; they need doctrine and apologetics.