The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good thing for the first time.

All that spirits desire, spirits attain.

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

Rich men's houses are seldom beautiful, rarely comfortable, and never original. It is a constant source of surprise to people of moderate means to observe how little a big fortune contributes to Beauty.

The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.

Nothing is black or white.

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.

The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action.

What do you despise? By this are you truly known.

His modesty amounts to deformity.

Charity ... is the opium of the privileged.

I sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world.

Keep things at arm's length... If you let anything come too near you want to hold on to it. And there is nothing a man can hold on to.

I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries.

The gift of words is the gift of deception and illusion.

Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

The death of a beautiful woman, is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world.

Who are you to judge the life I live? I know I'm not perfect-and I don't live to be-but before you start pointing fingers... make sure your hands are clean!

All satire is blind to the forces liberated by decay. Which is why total decay has absorbed the forces of satire.

There is no such thing as a Christian child: only a child of Christian parents.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.