The real alchemy consists in being able to turn gold back again into something else; and that's the secret that most of your friends have lost.

One of the first obligations of art is to make all useful things beautiful.

... caprice is as ruinous as routine.

Think what stupid things the people must have done with their money who say they're 'happier without'.

Life is the only real counselor; wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissue.

The value of books is proportionate to what may be called their plasticity -- their quality of being all things to all men, of being diversely moulded by the impact of fresh forms of thought.

Their long years together had shown him that it did not so much matter if marriage was a dull duty, as long as it kept the dignity of duty: lapsing from that, it became a mere battle of ugly appetites.