The dullard's envy of brilliant men is always assuaged by the suspicion that they will come to a bad end.

Men of genius are not quick judges of character. Deep thinking and high imagining blunt that trivial instinct by which you and I size people up.

Improvisation is the essence of good talk. Heaven defend us from the talker who doles out things prepared for us; but let heaven not less defend us from the beautiful spontaneous writer who puts his trust in the inspiration of the moment.

Anything that is worth doing has been done frequently. Things hitherto undone should be given, I suspect, a wide berth.

"After all," as a pretty girl once said to me, "women are a sex by themselves, so to speak."

I was a modest, good-humoured boy. It is Oxford that has made me insufferable.

History does not repeat itself. The historians repeat one another.