Genius is of small use to a woman who does not know how to do her hair.

He had known the love that is fed on caresses and feeds them; but this passion that was closer than his bones was not to be superficially satisfied.

Ah, good conversation - there's nothing like it, is there? The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing.

But marriage is one long sacrifice.... Chapter 21, Medora Manson speaking to Newland Archer

She gave so many reasons that I've forgotten them all.

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

But after a moment a sense of waste and ruin overcame him. There they were, close together and safe and shut in; yet so chained to their separate destinies that they might as well been half the world apart.