Every prison that men build Is built with bricks of shame, And bound with bars lest Christ should see How men their brothers maim.

Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes. Moralists had, as a rule, regarded it as a mode of warning, had claimed for it a certain ethical efficacy in the formation of character, had praised it as something that taught us what to follow and showed us what to avoid. But there was no motive power in experience. It was as little of an active cause as conscience itself. All that it really demonstrated was that our future would be the same as our past, and that the sin we had done once, and with loathing, we would do many times, and with joy.

Nothing is so dangerous as being too modern; one is apt to grow old fashioned quite suddenly.

Married men are horribly tedious when they are good husbands, and abominably conceited when they are not.

I was very much disappointed in the Atlantic Ocean.

It is that deep spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it.

The secret to life is to enjoy the pleasure of being terribly, terribly deceived.