In civilized communities mens idiosyncrasies are mitigated by the necessity of conforming to certain rules of behaviour. Culture is a mask that hides their faces.

The prestige you acquire by being able to tell your friends that you know famous men proves only that you are yourself of small account.

There's nothing the world loves more than a ready-made description which they can hang on to a man, and so save themselves all trouble in future.

So long as some are strong and some are weak, the weak will be driven to the wall.

A good style should show no sign of effort. What is written should seem a happy accident.

Failure makes people bitter and cruel. Success improves the character of the man.

The inclination to digress is human. But the dramatist must avoid it even more strenuously than the saint must avoid sin, for while sin may be venial, digression is mortal.

The drama is make-believe. It does not deal with truth but with effect.

Tradition is a guide and not a jailer.

If truth is a value it is because it is true and not because it is brave to speak it.