True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and nothing but what is necessary.

Talking and eloquence are not the same: to speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.

Heine says that a true autobiography is almost an impossibility, and that man is bound to lie about himself.

Every man, either to his terror or consolation, has some sense of religion.

For certainly it is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his reader is sure to skip t…

There is not an idea that cannot be expressed in 200 words. But the writer must know precisely what he wants to say. If you have nothing to say and want badly …

A writer is someone who can make a riddle out of an answer.