Well, great authors are great people - but I believe that they are best seen at a distance.

I prepare myself for all disappointments by expecting nothing.

Does it not appear to you versatility is the true and rare characteristic of that rare thing called genius-versatility and playfulness? In my mind they are both essential.

[On Elizabeth Barrett Browning:] Her sweetness of character is even beyond her genius.

I detest so much ... those persons, who insist upon telling you everything - who labor every point, as the lawyers say, as if they thought all excellence consisted in length.

In our present high state of civilization, people are so much alike, that anything at all odd comes on one with the freshness and character of an antique coin among smooth shillings.

Fashion is a capricious deity.