Life is indeed terribly complicated—to a man who has lost his principles.

There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.

All but the hard hearted man must be torn with pity for this pathetic dilemma of the rich man, who has to keep the poor man just stout enough to do the work and just thin enough to have to do it.

Boys like romantic [fairy] tales; but babies like realistic tales - because they find them romantic...This proves that even nursery tales only echo an almost prenatal leap of interest and amazement. These tales say that apples were golden only to refresh the forgotten moment when we found that they were green. They make rivers run with wine only to make us remember, for one wild moment, that they run with water.

We actually love ourselves more than we love joy.

People talk of the pathos and failure of plain women; but it is a more terrible thing that a beautiful woman may succeed in everything but womanhood.

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.