The Odyssey is, indeed, one of the greatest of all stories, it is the original romance of the West; but the Iliad, though a magnificent poem, is not much of a story.

The hardest thing to attain... is the appreciation of difference without insisting on superiority.

Nothing is more curious than the almost savage hostility that Humour excites in those who lack it.

But even gold is not everything: and only a fanatic, and a rather foolish fanatic, would say that this style of fiction summed up and exhausted all the good that fiction could give and do.

Miss Austen had shown the infinite possibilities of ordinary and present things for the novelist.

I do not think anything serious should be done after dinner, as nothing should be before breakfast.

Alcoholic drinks, rightly used, are good for body and soul alike, but as a restorative of both there is nothing like brandy.