Woman is quick to revere genius, but in her secret soul she seldom loves it.

Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food, and few things in the world are more wearying than a sarcastic attitude towards life.

The essence of humor is that it should be unexpected, that it should embody an element of surprise, that it should startle us out of that reasonable gravity which, after all, must be our habitual frame of mind.

The sanguine assurance that men and nations can be legislated into goodness, that pressure from without is equivalent to a moral change within, needs a strong backing of inexperience.

There are many ways of asking a favor; but to assume that you are granting the favor that you ask shows spirit and invention.

Diaries tell their little tales with a directness, a candor, conscious or unconscious, a closeness of outlook, which gratifies our sense of security. Reading them is like gazing through a small clear pane of glass. We may not see far and wide, but we see very distinctly that which comes within our field of vision.

The earliest voice listened to by the nations in their infancy was the voice of the storyteller.