“There are prophets, there are guides, and there are argumentative people with theories, and one must be careful to discriminate between them.”

“If reason be judge, no writer has produced such inconsistent characters as nature herself has. It must call for no small sagacity in a reader unerringly to discriminate in a novel between the inconsistencies of conception and those of life. As elsewhere, experience is the only guide here; but as no one man’s experience can be coextensive with what is, it may be unwise in every case to rest upon it.”

“Fiction and fact: only madmen and magistrates cannot discriminate between them.”

“People rid the room of argument until they have no one left — except people who agree with them. It is understandable. But I like a good argument.”

“Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.”

“You people with hearts,' he said once, 'have something to guide you, and need never do wrong; but I have no heart, and so I must be very careful.”