I have read that the secret of gallantry is to accept the pleasures of life leisurely, and its inconveniences with a shrug; as well as that, among other requisites, the gallant person will always consider the world with a smile of toleration, and his own doings with a smile of honest amusement, and Heaven with a smile which is not distrustful — being thoroughly persuaded that God is kindlier than the genteel would regard as rational.

Creeds matter very little... The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. So I elect for neither label.

I have followed after the truth, across this windy planet upon which every person is nourished by one or another lie.

Literature is a vast bazaar where customers come to purchase everything except mirrors.

Good and evil keep very exact accounts... and the face of every man is their ledger.

The only way of rendering life endurable is to drink as much wine as one can come by.

People never want to be told anything they do not believe already.