We may divide characters into flat and round.

Of course he despised the world as a whole; every thoughtful man should; it is almost a test of refinement.

Most of life is so dull that there is nothing to be said about it, and the books and talk that would describe it as interesting are obliged to exaggerate, in the hope of justifying their own existence.

To trust people is a luxury in which only the wealthy can indulge; the poor cannot afford it.

A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself.

The king died and then the queen died is a story. The king died, and then queen died of grief is a plot.

Sudden conversion ... is particularly attractive to the half-baked mind.