... the ordinary is simply the universal observed from the surface, that the direct approach to reality is not without, but within. Touch life anywhereand you will touch universality wherever you touch the earth.

idealism, that gaudy coloring matter of passion, fades when it is brought beneath the trenchant white light of knowledge. Ideals, like mountains, are best at a distance.

To drink for pleasure may be a distraction, but to drink from misery is always a danger.

I'm not going to lie down and let trouble walk over me.

The nearer she came to death, the more, by some perversity of nature, did she enjoy living.

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

The suitable is the last thing we ever want.