In youth the life of reason is not in itself sufficient; afterwards the life of emotion, except for short periods, becomes unbearable.

There are only three things which make life worth living: to be writing a tolerably good book, to be in a dinner party of six, and to be traveling south with someone whom your conscience permits you to love.

Poets arguing about modern poetry: jackals snarling over a dried-up well.

Hate is the consequence of fear; we fear something before we hate; a child who fears noises becomes the man who hates them.

If one is too lazy to think, too vain to do a thing badly, too cowardly to admit it, one will never attain wisdom.

Words today are like the shells and rope of seaweed which a child brings home glistening from the beach and which in an hour have lost their luster.

There is no pain equal to that which two lovers can inflict on one another. This should be made clear to all who contemplate such a union. The avoidance of this pain is the beginning of wisdom, for it is strong enough to contaminate the rest of our lives.