It was not the house that grew dull, but I that grew dull in it. My wife was better than all women, and yet I could not feel it.

In the modern conflict between the Smile and the Laugh, I am all in favor of laughing. The recent stage of culture and criticism might very well be summed up as the men who smile criticizing the men who laugh.

London is a riddle. Paris is an explanation.

Men may keep a sort of level of good, but no man has ever been able to keep on one level of evil.

Aristocracy: government by the badly educated.

Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.

The truth is that it is our attitude towards children that is right, and our attitude towards grown-up people that is wrong. Our attitude towards our equals in age consists in a servile solemnity, overlying a considerable degree of indifference or disdain. Our attitude towards children consists in a condescending indulgence, overlying an unfathomable respect.