To think of playing cricket for hard cash! Money and gentility would ruin any pastime under the sun.

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

To think of playing cricket for hard cash! Money and gentility would ruin any pastime under the sun.

I prepare myself for all disappointments by expecting nothing.

[On Elizabeth Barrett Browning:] ... for finish, and melody of versification, there is nothing approaching to Miss Barrett in this day, or in any other - also for diction. Her words paint.

A novel should be as like life as a painting, but not as like life as a piece of waxwork.

I have still the best comforts of life - books and friendships - and I trust never to lose my relish for either.