There is something to be said for every error; but, whatever may be said for it, the most important thing to be said about it is that it is erroneous.

The decay of society is praised by artists as the decay of a corpse is praised by worms.

There are arguments for atheism, and they do not depend, and never did depend, upon science. They are arguable enough, as far as they go, upon a general survey of life; only it happens to be a superficial survey of life.

Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her.

London is a riddle. Paris is an explanation.

The fact is that purification and austerity are even more necessary for the appreciation of life and laughter than for anything else. To let no bird fly past unnoticed, to spell the stones and weeds, to have the mind a storehouse of sunset, requires a discipline in pleasure and an education in gratitude.

He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it.