“Choose silence of all virtues, for by it you hear other men's imperfections, and conceal your own.”

“Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.”

“I owe all my originality, such as it is, to my determination not to be a literary man. Instead of belonging to a literary club I belong to a municipal council. Instead of drinking and discussing authors and reviews, I sit on committees with capable practical greengrocers and bootmakers... Keep away from books and from men who get their ideas from books, and your own books will always be fresh.”

“Criminals do not die by the hands of the law. They die by the hands of other men.”

“Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn.”

“That is what all the poets do: they talk to themselves outloud and the world overhears them. But it's horribly lonely not to hear someone else talk sometimes.”

“Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge, virtue, and abiding love.”