“Scarcely anything in literature is worth a damn except what is written between the lines.”

“An age which is incapable of poetry is incapable of any kind of literature except the cleverness of a decadence.”

“You talk too damn much and too damn much of it is about you.”

“A man who drinks too much on occasion is still the same man as he was sober. An alcoholic, a real alcoholic, is not the same man at all. You can't predict anything about him for sure except that he will be someone you never met before.”

“There's always something to do if you don't have to work or consider the cost. It's no real fun but the rich don't know that. They never had any. They never want anything very hard except maybe somebody else's wife and that's a pretty pale desire compared with the way a plumber's wife wants new curtains for the living room.”

“When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split.”

“I sat down on the edge of a deep soft chair and looked at Mrs Regan. She was worth a stare. She was trouble.”