Art is the process of evoking pity and terror, which is not abstract at all but very human. What the self-styled modern artists are doing is a sort of unemotional pseudointellectual masturbation . . ....

Customs tell a man who he is, where he belongs, what he must do. Better illogical customs than none; men cannot live together without them. From an anthropologist’s view, ‘justice’ is a search for workable...

Happiness consists in getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more. All the wealthy, unhappy people you’re ever met take sleeping pills; Mobile Infantrymen don’t need them. Give a cap trooper a bunk and time to...

The coldest depth of Hell is reserved for people who abandon kittens.

There were many, many times thereafter that Don regretted having enlisted – but so has every man who ever volunteered for military service.

But when they began handing out doctorates for comparative folk dancing and advanced fly-fishing, I became too stink in’ proud to use the title. I won’t touch watered whiskey and I take no pride in...

A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future.

I’ve never been able to understand ‘faith’ myself, nor to see how a just God could expect his creatures to pick the one true religion out of an infinitude of false ones – by faith...

Democracy is a poor system; the only thing that can be said for it is that it’s eight times as good as any other method.

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.

Courage is the complement of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. [He is also a fool.]

Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate — and quickly.

Support for the arts — merde! A government-supported artist is an incompetent whore!