"The true genius is a man who can say what he likes without being understood."

"I intend to be the first American author of any note."

"Grin: — Your true diddler winds up all with a grin. But this nobody sees but himself. He grins when his daily work is done — when his allotted labors are accomplished — at night in his own closet, and…"

"I call to mind flatness and dampness; and then all is madness - the madness of a memory which busies itself among forbidden things."

"I am a firm believer in the doctrine of original sin."