People have a right to be shocked; the mention of unmentionable things is a kind of participation in them.

Fine writers should split hairs together, and sit side by side, like friendly apes, to pick the fleas from each others fur.

The notion of making money by popular work, and then retiring to do good work, is the most familiar of all the devil's traps for artists.

How many of our daydreams would darken into nightmares if there seemed any danger of their coming true!

We need two kinds of acquaintances, one to complain to, while to the others we boast.

We should nourish our souls on the dew of Poesy, and manure them as well.

Growing old is not a gradual decline, but a series of drops, full of sorrow, from one ledge to another below it.