When I have no idea, I gnaw my nails and invoke the aid of Providence.

- Brander Matthews

Give a good deed the credit of a good motive; and give an evil deed the benefit of the doubt.

- Brander Matthews

A gentleman need not know Latin, but he should at least have forgotten it.

- Brander Matthews

In every artist we can perceive a man with both a message and a method. His message may be innate in him, but his method he has to acquire from other…

- Brander Matthews

The art of the dramatist is very like the art of the architect. A plot has to be built up just as a house is built-story after story; and no edifice …

- Brander Matthews

To be clear is the first duty of a writer; to charm and to please are graces to be acquired later.

- Brander Matthews

Be brief, be buoyant, and be brilliant.

- Brander Matthews

There is a homely directness about these rustic apothegms which makes them far more palatable than the strained and sophisticated epigrams of the cha…

- Brander Matthews

A highbrow is a person educated beyond his intelligence.

- Brander Matthews