The wealthy man is not he who has money, but he who has the means to live in the luxurious state of early spring.

In nature a repulsive caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly. But with human beings it is the other way round: a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive caterpillar.

In displaying the psychology of your characters, minute particulars are essential. God save us from vague generalizations!

If there is a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, it must fire in the last.

When you describe the miserable and unfortunate, and want to make the reader feel pity, try to be somewhat colder - that seems to give a kind of background to another's grief, against which it stands out more clearly. Whereas in your story the characters cry and you sigh. Yes, be more cold. ... The more objective you are, the stronger will be the impression you make.

My mother and father are the only people on the whole planet for whom I will never begrudge a thing. Should I achieve great things, it is the work of their hands; they are splendid people and their absolute love of their children places them above the highest praise. It cloaks all of their shortcomings, shortcomings that may have resulted from a difficult life.

It is as acceptable now to love the wives of others as it is to smoke their cigars and read their books.