Politics is the diversion of trivial men who, when they succeed at it, become important in the eyes of more trivial men.

Criticism is the windows and chandeliers of art: it illuminates the enveloping darkness in which art might otherwise rest only vaguely discernible, and perhaps altogether unseen.

Bad officials are the ones elected by good citizens who do not vote.

Love demands infinitely less than friendship.

Great art is as irrational as great music. It is mad with its own loveliness.

A man's wife is his compromise with the illusion of his first sweetheart.

Love is the emotion that a woman feels always for a poodle dog and sometimes for a man.

Love is an emotion experienced by the many and enjoyed by the few.

A man reserves his true and deepest love not for the species of woman in whose company he finds himself electrified and enkindled, but for that one in whose company he may feel tenderly drowsy.

The test of a real comedian is whether you laugh at him before he opens his mouth.

I drink to make other people interesting.

Don’t complain of terrible circumstances. It has been proven several times that they are the sources of celebrated trophies.

Oh my love! You are the light of love in the darkness. I am longing for you, you are my flower and freshness.

Another fine mess you've got us in Stanley.

There is no gratitude for things past. Gratitude is always for what you're going to do for people in the future.

I have a lovely room and bath in the hotel. It's a little inconvenient, they're in two separate buildings!

Pessimism: A valuable protection against quackery.

Beautiful books are always written in a sort of foreign language.

If you intend to create something that people will observe and listen to, you've got to listen to them first.

Go as hard as you can on the first piece and then pray that you get switched. Repeat.

Every part of the journey is of importance to the whole.