All mirrors are magical mirrors, and we never see our faces in them.

Hearts that are delicate and kind and tongues that are neither - these make the finest company in the world.

The truth is that the phenomena of artistic production are still so obscure, so baffling, we are still so far from an accurate scientific and psychological knowledge of their genesis or meaning, that we are forced to accept them as empirical facts; and empirical and non-explanatory names are the names that suit them best.

It is a matter of life and death for married people to interrupt each others stories; for it they did not, they would burst.

What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?

The indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable perfection -even though nothing more than the pounding of an old piano -is what alone gives a meaning to our life on this unavailing star.

What pursuit is more elegant than that of collecting the ignominies of our nature and transfixing them for show, each on the bright pin of a polished phrase?