Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.

You!" he cried. "You never hated because you never lived. I know what you are all of you, from first to last--you are the people in power! You are the police--the great, fat smiling men in blue and buttons! You are the Law, and you have never been broken. But is there a free soul alive that does not long to break you, only because you have never been broken?

It is true that I am of an older fashion; much that I love has been destroyed or sent into exile.

All literary style, especially national style, is made up of such coincidences, which are a spiritual sort of puns. That is why style is untranslatable.

Puritanism was an honourable mood; it was a noble fad. In other words, it was a highly creditable mistake.

Some of the most frantic lies on the face of life are told with modesty and restraint; for the simple reason that only modesty and restraint will save them.

Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.