As it was, we always misunderstood ourselves and rarely understood others. Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes.

The sick do not ask if the hand that smoothes their pillow is pure, nor the dying care if the lips that touch their brow have known the kiss of sin.

The trouble with the lower classes is that they lack the sense of tragedy given to them by the upper classes.

Mr. Henry James writes fiction as if it were a painful duty.

To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.

In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.

By persistently remaining single a man converts himself into a permanent public temptation.