“We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.”

We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.

Men seek but one thing in life — their pleasure.

I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation.

There is a sort of man who pays no attention to his good actions, but is tormented by his bad ones. This is the type that most often writes about himself.

There are two good things in life – freedom of thought and freedom of action.

Of all the hokum with which this country [America] is riddled, the most odd is the common notion that it is free of class distinctions.

It is bad enough to know the past; it would be intolerable to know the future.

If it is necessary sometimes to lie to others, it is always despicable to lie to oneself.

If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too.

If a man hasn’t what’s necessary to make a woman love him, it’s his fault, not hers.

If you want to eat well in England, eat three breakfasts.

The Almighty can hardly be such a fool as the churches make out.

if you’d ever had a grown-up daughter you’d know that by comparison a bucking steer is easy to manage. And as to knowing what goes on inside her – well, it’s much better to pretend you’re the simple, innocent old fool she almost certainly takes you for.

They call beautiful a dress, a dog, a sermon; and when they are face to face with Beauty cannot recognise it.

The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety.

It’s no use crying over spilt milk, because all of the forces of the universe were bent on spilling it.

Being is desirable because it is identical with Beauty, and Beauty is loved because it is Being.

I am who I am today because of my mother.

My wife gets so mad at me because I don’t like to cook on the grill.

I’m an easy target because of my political opinions.

Because I’m small, I’ve been called things from ‘Happy Feet’ to ‘Little Face.’

I’m a businessman as well as an entertainer. The reason why is because I want to own whatever I’m doing. I don’t want to work for other people forever.

You have to have a catcher because if you don’t you’re likely to have a lot of passed balls.

Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one’s own inner self.