There are few faces that can afford to smile: a smile is sometimes bewitching, in general vapid, often a contortion.

You know who the critics are? The men who have failed in literature and art.

What we call public opinion is generally public sentiment.

The difference between a misfortune and a calamity is this: If Gladstone fell into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him out again, that would be a calamity.

Literature is an avenue to glory, ever open for those ingenious men who are deprived of honors or of wealth.

Life is to short to be small.

Never take anything for granted.