It is impossible that a genius - at least a literary genius - can ever be discovered by his intimates; they are so close to him that he is out of focus to them and they can't get at his proportions; they can't perceive that there is any considerable difference between his bulk and their own.

When ill luck begins, it does not come in sprinkles, but in showers.

It is human to exaggerate the merits of the dead.

Humor is the good natured side of a truth.

If you have nothing to say, say nothing.

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

If they [the dead] should speak, it would be found that in matters of opinion no departed person was exactly what he had passed for in life. They would realise, deep down, that they, and whole nations along with them, are not really what they seem to be-and never can be.