A complex man, he elicited much admiration from his friends, but their responses to him varied widely, so that one of them could say at the time of Spratling's death, "People loved him and disliked him" (HNOC).
In his newspaper column, Lyle Saxon reported on Spratling's apartment and a party there in the mid-1920s "of the unique kind which only the French Quarter at its best can produce" (HNOC).
His interests were varied and multifaceted and he was able to divide his energy and concentration among the many areas in which he had expertise" (HNOC).