First, I was an idealist (that was early - fools are born, not made, you know); next I was a realist; now I am a pessimist, and, by Jove! if things get much worse I'll become a humorist.

So long as the serpent continues to crawl on the ground, the primary influence of woman will be indirect.

the old alone have finality. What is true of the young today may be false tomorrow. They are enveloped in emotion; and emotion as a state of being is fluent and evanescent.

The older I grow the more earnestly I feel that the few joys of childhood are the best that life has to give.

Few forms of life are so engaging as birds.

I hated the things they believe in, the things they so innocently and charmingly pretended. I hated the sanctimonious piety that let people hurt helpless creatures. I hated the prayers and the hymns - the fountains and the red images that coloured their drab music, the fountains filled with blood, the sacrifice of the lamb.

convictions ... are always getting in the way of opportunities.