George jean nathan

Criticism is the windows and chandeliers of art: it illuminates the enveloping darkness in which art might otherwise rest only vaguely discernible, and perhaps altogether unseen.

Politics is the diversion of trivial men who, when they succeed at it, become important in the eyes of more trivial men.

It is only the cynicism that is born of success that is penetrating and valid.

It is also said of me that I now and then contradict myself. Yes, I improve wonderfully as time goes on.

What passes for woman's intuition is often nothing more than man's transparency.

Whenever a man encounters a woman in a mood he doesn't understand, he wants to know if she's tired.

The test of a real comedian is whether you laugh at him before he opens his mouth.

So long as there is one pretty girl left on the stage, the professional undertakers may hold up their burial of the theater.

A man's wife is his compromise with the illusion of his first sweetheart.

Common sense, in so far as it exists, is all for the bourgeoisie. Nonsense is the privilege of the aristocracy. The worries of the world are for the common people.