The lesson intended by an author is hardly ever the lesson the world chooses to learn from his book.

Don't order any black things. Rejoice in his memory; and be radiant: leave grief to the children. Wear violet and purple. Be patient with the poor people who will snivel: they don't know; and they think they will live for ever, which makes death a division instead of a bond.

I hope you have lost your good looks, for while they last any fool can adore you, and the adoration of fools is bad for the soul.

New opinions often appear first as jokes and fancies, then as blasphemies and treason, then as questions open to discussion, and finally as established truths.

Well, upon my soul! You are not ashamed to stand there and confess yourself a disgusting drunkard.

Life is a disease; and the only difference between on man and another is the stage of the disease at which he lives.

A happy family is but an earlier heaven.