To give an accurate and exhaustive account of that period would need a far less brilliant pen than mine.

No Roman ever was able to say, 'I dined last night with the Borgias'.

I have known no man of genius who had not to pay, in some affliction or defect, either physical or spiritual, for what the gods had given him.

Only mediocrity can be trusted to be always at its best. Genius must always have lapses proportionate to its triumphs.

Incongruity is the mainspring of laughter.

When hospitality becomes an art it loses its very soul.

Only the insane take themselves seriously.