Happiness, remarked Maury Noble one day, is only the first hour after the alleviation of some especially intense misery.

It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonious conception of memory.

It appears that every man's insomnia is as different from his neighbours as are their daytime hopes and aspirations.

Forgotten is forgiven.

The easiest way to get a reputation is to go outside the fold, shout around for a few years as a violent atheist or a dangerous radical, and then crawl back to the shelter.

Amory took to writing poetry on spring afternoons, in the gardens of the big estates near Princeton, while swans made effective atmosphere in the artificial pools, and slow clouds sailed harmoniously above the willow. May came too soon, and suddenly unable to bear walls, he wandered the campus at all hours through starlight and rain.

i was perhaps an egotist in youth, but i soon found it made me morbid to think too much about myself