The only people I would care to be with now are artists and people who have suffered: those who know what beauty is, and those who know what sorrow is: nobody else interests me.

Murder is always a mistake. One should never do anything that one cannot talk about after dinner.

As for the virtuous poor, one can pity them of course, but one cannot possibly admire them.

Examinations, sir, are pure humbug from beginning to end. If a man is a gentleman, he knows quite enough, and if he is not a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him.

The moment you think you understand a great work of art, it's dead for you.

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

Life under a good government is rarely dramatic; life under a bad government is always so.