Symbols are the imaginative signposts of life.

The ingrained idea that, because there is no king and they despise titles, the Americans are a free people is pathetically untrue. . . . There is a perpetual interference with personal liberty over there that would not be tolerated in England for a week.

The power to love what is purely abstract is given to few.

What a pity, when Christopher Colombus discovered America, that he ever mentioned it.

[To her host upon leaving a party:] Don't think it hasn't been charming, because it hasn't.

The spirit is an inward flame; a lamp the world blows upon but never puts out.

Too much brilliance has its disadvantages, and misplaced wit may raise a laugh, but often beheads a topic of profound interest.