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

A world of vested interests is not a world which welcomes the disruptive force of candor.

For my part, the good novel of character is the novel I can always pick up; but the good novel of incident is the novel I can never lay down.

There is a natural limit to the success we wish our friends, even when we have spurred them on their way.

A villain must be a thing of power, handled with delicacy and grace. He must be wicked enough to excite our aversion, strong enough to arouse our fear, human enough to awaken some transient gleam of sympathy. We must triumph in his downfall, yet not barbarously nor with contempt, and the close of his career must be in harmony with all its previous development.

Edged tools are dangerous things to handle, and not infrequently do much hurt.

Wit is as infinite as love, and a deal more lasting in its qualities.