Sincerity is glass, discretion is diamond.

Men fear silence as they fear solitude, because both give them a glimpse of the terror of life's nothingness.

To be witty is not enough. One must possess sufficient wit to avoid having too much of it.

A great biography should, like the close of a great drama, leave behind it a feeling of serenity. We collect into a small bunch the flowers, the few flowers, which brought sweetness into a life, and present it as an offering to an accomplished destiny. It is the dying refrain of a completed song, the final verse of a finished poem.

There are deserts in every life, and the desert must be depicted if we are to give a fair and complete idea of the country.

Modesty and unselfishness - these are the virtues which men praise - and pass by.

In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.