The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it.

You are all alike, you respectable people. You can't tell me the bursting strain of a ten-inch gun, which is a very simple matter;but you all think you can tell me the bursting strain of a man under temptation. You daren't handle high explosives; but you're all ready to handle honesty and truth and justice and the whole duty of man, and kill one another at that game. What a country! What a world!

What is wrong with the prosaic Englishman is what is wrong with the prosaic men of all countries: stupidity.

It is doubtless wise, when a reform is introduced, to try to persuade the British public that it is not a reform at all; but appearances must be kept up to some extent at least.

One man that has a mind and knows it can always beat ten men who haven't and don't.

The problem with the press is that they can't tell the difference between a bicycle crash and the end of civilization.

A learned man is an idler who kills time by study.