John Erskine

Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing.

It is fatal to suppose the great writer was too wise or too profound for us ever to understand him; to think of art so is not to praise but to murder it, for the next step after that tribute will be neglect of the masterpiece.

Whenever we read a book we love, we change it, to some extent. We read into it our own interpretations, and the meanings which the words have taken on in our time. If a book is so rigid that it cannot lend itself to these fluctuations, it is useful only while it seems strictly true, and afterwards it is completely out of date.

There's a difference between beauty and charm. A beautiful woman is one I notice. A charming woman is one who notices me.

Temperance is the control of all the functions of our bodies. The man who refuses liquor goes in for apple pie and develops a paunch is no ethical leader for me.