All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.

If I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for it by being always immensely over-educated.

Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds.

A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. Its beauty comes from the fact that the author is what he is. ...Art is the most intense mode of Individualism that the world has known. I am inclined to say that it is the only real mode of Individualism that the world has known. ...Art is Individualism.

Literature always anticipates life. It doesn't copy it but moulds it to it's purpose.

The face of the enemy frightens me only when I see how much it resembles me

Dear Prince, I must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I will bring you back two beautiful jewels in place of those you have given away. The ruby shall be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire shall be as blue as the great sea.