The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. Read Summary
Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules. They're not like aches or wounds, they're more like splits in the skin that won't heal because there's not enough material. Read Summary
Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind. Read Summary
In a real dark night of the soul, it is always three o'clock in the morning, day after day. Read Summary
At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide. Read Summary
I've been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library. Read Summary
An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmaster of ever afterwards. Read Summary
Action is character. Read Summary
It is in the thirties that we want friends. In the forties we know they won't save us any more than love did. Read Summary
Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known. Read Summary
I'm a romantic; a sentimental person thinks things will last, a romantic person hopes against hope that they won't. Read Summary
Scratch a Yale man with both hands and you'll be lucky to find a coast-guard. Usually you find nothing at all. Read Summary
Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke. Read Summary
Nothing is as obnoxious as other people's luck. Read Summary
Switzerland is a country where very few things begin, but many things end. Read Summary
My idea is always to reach my generation. The wise writer writes for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward. Read Summary
Personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures. Read Summary
Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. Read Summary
There are no second acts in American lives. Read Summary
Life is essentially a cheat and its conditions are those of defeat; the redeeming things are not happiness and pleasure but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle. Read Summary