Dipsomaniac and the abstainer are not only both mistaken, but they both make the same mistake. They both regard wine as a drug and not as a drink.

Every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things.

The oligarchic character of the modern English commonwealth does not rest, like many oligarchies, on the cruelty of the rich to the poor. It does not even rest on the kindness of the rich to the poor. It rests on the perennial and unfailing kindness of the poor to the rich.

Only poor men get hanged.

The real pleasure-seeking is the combination of luxury and austerity in such a way that the luxury can really be felt.

I say that a man must be certain of his morality for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it.

No man can be merry unless he is serious.