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.

Everything comes to the man who won't wait.

Fog and hypocrisy - that is to say, shadow, convention, decency - these were the very things that lent to London its poetry and romance.

She could carry off anything; and some people said that she did.

It's always something to get one's wish, even if the wish is a failure.

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

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