James Branch Cabell

“To be logical is to be stupid.”

“Some of us are prisoners, condemned to loneliness.”

“Life is a pageant of which the true meaning is hidden.”

“What man calls conscience is merely the mental action that follows a sentimental reaction after the man has done something that he is ashamed of.”

“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.”

“The one real goal of education is to leave a man in the condition of continually asking questions.”

“For it is my opinion that we enclose and celebrate the freaks of our nation and our civilization.”

“There is no weapon so powerful as an idea in its time.”

“I have read that the secret of gallantry is to accept the pleasures of life leisurely, and its inconveniences with a shrug.”

“An artist is a person who has invented an artist.”

“It is well-nigh obvious that all men are mad. It remains to discover the character of their madness.”

“Each of us has his own private Iceland, an unvisited territory revealed to him only in his dreams.”

“While it is well enough to leave footprints on the sands of time, it is even more important to make sure they point in a commendable direction.”

“Tell the truth, and so puzzle and confound your adversaries.”