Just as the worst slave-owners were those who were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the horror of the system being realized by those who suffered from it, and understood by those who contemplated it, so, in the present state of things in England, the people who do most harm are the people who try to do most good.

As a wicked man I am a complete failure. Why, there are lots of people who say I have never really done anything wrong in the whole course of my life. Of course they only say it behind my back.

Every single work of art is the fulfillment of a prophecy; for every work of art is the conversion of an idea into an image.

The problem with the common person is that he is so unbearably common!

The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion-these are the two things that govern us.

Everybody in American seems in a rush to catch a train.

They flaunt their conjugal felicity in one's face, as if it were the most fascinating of sins.