I am afraid we must make the world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty is the best policy.

I'm sick of all the reasonable people: they see all the reasons for doing nothing

Life at its noblest leaves mere happiness far behind; and indeed cannot endure it. Happiness is not the object of life: life has no object: it is an end in itself; and courage consists in the readiness to sacrifice happiness for an intenser quality of life.

A broken heart is a very pleasant complaint for a man in London if he has a comfortable income.

Most married couples spend the whole day apart, the woman in the house, the man in the office or study or workshop.

Is the devil to have all the passions as well as all the good tunes?

I am giving you examples of the fact that this creature man, who in his own selfish affairs is a coward to the backbone, will fight for an idea like a hero. . . . I tell you, gentlemen, if you can shew a man a piece of what he now calls God's work to do, and what he will later call by many new names, you can make him entirely reckless of the consequences to himself personally.