It is easier to make a saint out of a libertine than out of a prig.

There is no greater stupidity or meanness than to take uniformity for an ideal, as if it were not a benefit and a joy to a man, being what he is, to know that many are, have been, and will be better than he.

Habit is stronger than reason.

Ideal society is a drama enacted exclusively in the imagination.

Better not be a hero than work oneself up into heroism by shouting lies.

Beauty as we feel it is something indescribable; what it is or what it means can never be said.

Skepticism, like chastity, should not be relinquished too readily.