Any fool can carry on, but a wise man knows how to shorten sail in time.

The sea has never been friendly to man. At most it has been the accomplice of human restlessness.

The artist appeals to that part of our being which is not dependent on wisdom; to that in us which is a gift and not an acquisition-and therefore, more permanently enduring. He speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives; to our sense of pity, and beauty and pain.

Gossip is what no one claims to like, but everybody enjoys.

The human heart is vast enough to contain all the world.

Only in men's imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life.

The good author is he who contemplates without marked joy or excessive sorrow the adventures of his soul amongst criticisms.