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.

Friendship is the bread of the heart.

... they know little of the passions who seek to argue with that most intractable of them all, the fear that is born of love.

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

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

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

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.