Not till the fire is dying in the grate, Look we for any kinship with the stars.

Cynicism is intellectual dandyism.

She whom I love is hard to catch and conquer, Hard, but O the glory of the winning were she won!

Memoirs are the backstairs of history.

Observation is the most enduring of the pleasures of life.

Cultivated men and women who do not skim the cream of life, and are attached to the duties, yet escape the harsher blows, make acute and balanced observers.

Among the Diaries beginning with the second quarter of our century, there is frequent mention of a lady then becoming famous for her beauty and her wit: "an unusual combination," in the deliberate syllables of one of the writers, who is, however, not disposed to personal irony when speaking of her.