The discovery of a grey hair when you are brushing out your whiskers of a morning - first fallen flake of the coming snows of age - is a disagreeable thing.

There is nothing good in this world which time does not improve.

The only thing a man knows is himself.

Fine phrases I value more than bank-notes. I have ear for no other harmony than the harmony of words. To be occasionally quoted is the only fame I care for.

Looking forward into an empty year strikes one with a certain awe, because one finds therein no recognition. The years behind have a friendly aspect, and they are warmed by the fires we have kindled, and all their echoes are the echoes of our own voices.

Not on the stage alone, in the world also, a man's real character comes out best in his asides.

The saddest thing that befalls a soul is when it loses faith in god and woman.