“A real failure does not need an excuse. It is an end in itself.”

— Gertrude Stein, Four in America (1933), written 1933, published 1947

About Gertrude Stein

1874 – 1946

American writer and art collector who lived in Paris, author of 'The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas' and 'Paris France'.

“The family is always the family but during vacations it is an extended family and that is exhausting.”

“One does not get better but different and older and that is always a pleasure.”

“It is always a mistake to be plain-spoken.”

“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

“All that glisters is not gold.”

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

“And one man in his time plays many parts.”

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”