It is a curious fact that people are never so trivial as when they take themselves seriously

The tragedy of the poor is that they can afford nothing but self denial.

If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out.

If people are dishonest once, they will be dishonest a second time. And honest people should keep away from them. (Lady Chiltern)

Though of all poses a moral pose is the most offensive, still to have a pose at all is something.

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.

I'm sure I don't know half the people who come to my house. Indeed, from all I hear, I shouldn't like to.