an optimist is the man who looks after your eyes, and the pessimist the person who looks after your feet.

envy, as a rule, is of success rather than of merit. No one would have objected to his talent deserving recognition - only to his getting it.

Thou canst not serve both cod and salmon.

Absurdly improbable things are quite as liable to happen in real life as in weak literature.

There is, of course, no joy so great as the cessation of pain; in fact all joy, active or passive, is the cessation of some pain, since it must be the satisfaction of a longing, even perhaps an unconscious longing.

an optimist is the man who looks after your eyes, and the pessimist the person who looks after your feet.

A butler in an English household should, however, be English, and as much like an archbishop as possible.