To forget pain is to be painless; to forget care is to be rid of it; to go abroad is to accomplish both.

Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.

There are German songs which can make a stranger to the language cry.

Great enterprises usually promise vastly more than they perform.

Well, my book is written-let it go. But if it were only to write over again there wouldn't be so many things left out. They burn in me; and they keep multiplying; but now they can't ever be said. And besides, they would require a library-and a pen warmed up in hell.

This is the fairest picture on our planet, the most enchanting to look upon, the most satisfying to the eye and spirit. To see the sun sink down, drowned in his pink and purple and golden floods, and overwhelm Florence with tides of color that make all the sharp lines dim and faint and turn the solid city to a city of dreams, is a sight to stir the coldest nature, and make a sympathetic one drunk with ecstasy.

Your friends may love you in private but your enemies will hate you in public.