Irwin Shaw

“There are too many books I haven’t read, too many places I haven’t seen, too many memories I haven’t kept long enough.”

“People who drink to drown their sorrows should be told that sorrows know how to swim.”

“The prime function of a leader is to keep hope alive.”

“A man doesn't know what he knows until he knows what he doesn't know.”

“Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.”

“The only immorality is not to do what one has to do when one has to do it.”

“History is a tragedy, not a morality tale.”

“It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead for the rest of your life.”

“After a certain age, a man is responsible for his face.”

“Artists are the only people in the world who are not serious.”

“Walking along past the endlessly repetitive shops, I felt like a man who has drowned and gone to the supermarket of hell.”

“Failure is a highly personal matter, and it has a thousand sources.”

“You can learn a lot about a man by the way he talks about his old high school.”

“Death is a great critic.”

“Comedy is a serious business.”

“There's a sorrow and pain in everyone's life, but every now and then there's a ray of light that melts the loneliness in your heart and brings comfort like hot soup and a soft bed.”