There is something about the state putting the power to bully into the hands of subnormal, sadistic apes that makes my blood boil.
There are, then, three sorts of religious experiences. The ancient rites, which are essentially propitiatory. The mysteries, which purge the soul and allow us to glimpse eternity. And philosophy, whic...
The Bowery b'hoys were delighted ... to observe a pair of their favorites in league against their natural enemy, for Clancey detests our democracy, finds even the Whigs radical, the Adams family vulga...
Of course his dust would be absorbed in other living things and to that degree at least he would exist again, though it was plain enough that the specific combination which was he would never exist ag...
It is ironic-rouse the limpest adjective-that a government as spontaneously tyrannous and callous as ours should, over the years, have come yo care so much about our health as it endlessly tests and r...
It is curious how little interested we are in the sexual desires of those who do not attract us.
I say his version because there is no such thing as a true account of anything. Each sees the world from his own vantage point. Needless to say, a throne is not the best place from which to view anyth...
As we left the bar, we saw two men fighting at the wooden pump. One was short and stocky: he was pummelling a tall gangling creature with loose flapping arms ... Edwin Forrest was giving a much deserv...
As I now move, graciously, I hope, towards the door marked Exit, it occurs to me that the only thing I ever really liked to do was go to the movies.
AFTER HAMILTON’S DEATH, I remained at Richmond Hill for ten days. I confess that I was not prepared for the response to our interview. Apparently no one had ever fought a duel in the whole history of...
Weaving his verbal wreaths, in prose and verse, of marvellous poison ivy.
Breathed breakfast Madeira in my face. Charlot, he has robbed me! I looked at her blankly; not breathing until she removed her face from mine, and sank back onto the velvet cushions. I have married a...
It is astonishing to think that millions of people in my time—now, too, I suppose—actually thought that at a given moment in history two human beings had evolved to a higher state than that of all the...
How marvelous books are, crossing worlds and centuries, defeating ignorance and, finally, cruel time itself.
Foreigners are mystified by the whole business while thoughtful Americans – there are several of us – are equally mystified that the ruling establishment of the country has proved to be so mindlessly...
The theater needs continual reminders that there is nothing more debasing than the work of those who do well what is not worth doing at all.
That is sad until one recalls how many bad books the world may yet be spared because of the busyness of writers.
…the American reader cannot bear a surprise. He knows that this is the greatest country on earth…and evidence to the contrary is not admissible. That means no inconvenient facts, no new information. I...
We are given our place in time as we are given our eyes: weak, strong, clear, squinting, the thing is not ours to choose. Well, this has been a squinting, walleyed time to be born in.
That my plans have lately gone somewhat awry is the sort of risk one must take if life is to be superb.