A man's delight in looking forward to and hoping for some particular satisfaction is a part of the pleasure flowing out of it, enjoyed in advance. But this is afterward deducted, for the more we look forward to anything the less we enjoy it when it comes.

The general history of art and literature shows that the highest achievements of the human mind are, as a rule, not favourably received at first.

What a person is for himself, what abides with him in his loneliness and isolation, and what no one can give or take away from him, this is obviously more essential for him than everything that he possesses or what he may be in the eyes of others.

Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other.

... that when you're buying books, you're optimistically thinking you're buying the time to read them. (Paraphrase of Schopenhauer)

Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax.

The business of the novelist is not to relate great events, but to make small ones interesting.