“To disagree with three-fourths of the British public is one of the first requisites of sanity.”

“When critics disagree the artist is in accord with himself.”

“But there is no such thing, sir, as a ghost, and I guess the laws of Nature are not going to be suspended for the British aristocracy”

“The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly scandalous. It looks so bad. It is simply washing one's clean linen in public.”

“The public is largely influenced by the look of a book. So are we all. It is the only artistic thing about the public.”

“In old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody.”

“Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital.When critics disagree the artist is in accord with himself.We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.All art is quite useless.”