as I get older there is nothing more constantly astonishing to me than the goodness of the Bad; - unless it is the badness of the Good.

a manufactured interest has no staying quality - especially if it involves any hard work.

When it comes to bombshells, there are few that can be more effective than that small, flat, frail thing, a letter.

Every new truth begins in a shocking heresy.

It is useless to deny that, unless one has a genius for imparting knowledge, teaching is a drudgery.

Books are like sapphires; they must be polished - polished! or else you insult your readers.

men love their wives not because of their virtues, but in spite of them.