No one is so completely disenchanted with the world, or knows it so thoroughly, or is so utterly disgusted with it, that when it begins to smile upon him he does not become partially reconciled to it.

A dictionary can embrace only a small part of the vast tapestry of a language.

It's not our disadvantages or shortcomings that are ridiculous, but rather the studious way we try to hide them, and our desire to act as if they did not exist.

Nature, with her customary beneficence, has ordained that man shall not learn how to live until the reasons for living are stolen from him, that he shall find no enjoyment until he has become incapable of vivid pleasure.

The artist's conception of his art or the scientist's of his science is usually as great as his conception of his own worth is small.

Everything since Homer has improved, except poetry.

Men are ready to suffer anything from others or from heaven itself, provided that, when it comes to words, they are untouched.