There again," said Syme irritably, "what is there poetical about being in revolt? You might as well say that it is poetical to be sea-sick. Being sick is a revolt. Both being sick and being rebellious may be the wholesome thing on certain desperate occasions; but I'm hanged if I can see why they are poetical...It is things going right," he cried, "that is poetical! Our digestions, for instance, going sacredly and silently right, that is the foundation of all poetry...the most poetical thing in the world is not being sick.

I represent the jolly mass of mankind. I am the happy and reckless Christian.

Art is the signature of man.

Civilization has run on ahead of the soul of man, and is producing faster than he can think and give thanks.

No man can be merry unless he is serious.

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

In matters of truth the fact that you don't want to publish something is, nine times out of ten, a proof that you ought to publish it.