Misfortune had made Lily supple instead of hardening her, and a pliable substance is less easy to break than a stiff one.

My last page is always latent in my first; but the intervening windings of the way become clear only as I write.

True originality consists not in a new manner but in a new vision. That new, that personal, vision is attained only by looking long enough at the object represented to make it the writer's own; and the mind which would bring this secret gem to fruition must be able to nourish it with an accumulated wealth of knowledge and experience.

Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before.

Happiness is a work of art. Handle with care.

Archer was too intelligent to think that a young woman like Ellen Olenska would necessarily recoil from everything that reminded her of her past. She might believe herself wholly in revolt against it; but what had charmed her in it would still charm her even though it were against her will.

The very good people didn't convince me; I felt they'd never been tempted. But you knew; you understood; you had felt the world outside tugging at one with all its golden hands — and yet you hated the things it asks of one; you hated happiness bought by disloyalty and cruelty and indifference.