...to invent is to discover that we know not, and not to recover or resummon that which we already know

The doctrines of religion are resolved into carefulness; carefulness into vigorousness; vigorousness into guiltlessness; guiltlessness into abstemiousness; abstemiousness into cleanliness; cleanliness into godliness.

I would like, in my arbitrary way, to bring one nearer to the actual human being.

Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.

The breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air than in the hand.

Wise sayings are not only for ornament, but for action and business, having a point or edge, whereby knots in business are pierced and discovered.

If I go to the National Gallery and I look at one of the great paintings that excite me there, it's not so much the painting that excites me as that the painting unlocks all kinds of valves of sensation within me which return me to life more violently.