Author Quotes

Conceit is the finest armour a man can wear.

But there, everything has its drawbacks, as the man said when his mother-in-law died, and they came down upon him for the funeral expenses.

We drink one another's health and spoil our own.

It is in our faults and failings, not in our virtues, that we touch each other, and find sympathy. It is in our follies that we are one.

It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.

Time is but the shadow of the world upon the background of Eternity.

It is easy enough to say that poverty is no crime. No; if it were men wouldn't be ashamed of it. It is a blunder, though, and is punished as such. A poor man is despised the whole world over.

Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen.

There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do.

One we discover how to appreciate the timeless values in our daily experiences, we can enjoy the best things in life.

It is so pleasant to come across people more stupid than ourselves. We love them at once for being so.

A loud noise at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

The weather is like the government, always in the wrong.

We are so bound together that no man can labor for himself alone. Each blow he strikes in his own behalf helps to mold the universe.

Love is like the measles; we all have to go through it.

People who have tried it, tell me that a clear conscience makes you very happy and contented; but a full stomach does the business quite as well, and is cheaper, and more easily obtained.

I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.

Nothing is more beautiful than the love that has weathered the storms of life. The love of the young for the young, that is the beginning of life. But the love of the old for the old, that is the beginning of things longer.

What I am looking for is a blessing not in disguise.

I can see the humorous side of things and enjoy the fun when it comes; but look where I will, there seems to me always more sadness than joy in life.

It is always the best policy to speak the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.

Whenever one reads of the determination of the species, or opens a book on natural science and history, in whatever language, one inevitably comes across the name of Linne.

There is something of the freshness of mind, of the lightness of spirit in Linne which for centuries has been linked in people's minds with the mountains of Sweden and Swedish joy in nature.

The grounding in natural sciences which I obtained in the course of my medical studies, including preliminary examinations in botany, zoology, physics, and chemistry, was to become decisive in determining the trend of my literary work.

During half a century of literary work, I have endeavoured to introduce the philosophy of evolution into the sphere of literature, and to inspire my readers to think in evolutionary terms.

A probing analysis of the problems of evolution forms the basis of my prose.

For many years I was engaged in journalism, writing articles and chronicles for the daily press without ever joining the staff of any newspaper.

Writing is really very easy. Tap a vein and bleed onto the page. Everything else is just technical.

No matter what we call it, poison is still poison, death is still death, and industrial civilization is still causing the greatest mass extinction in the history of the planet.

Civilization can never be sustainable.