Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more.

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

As for modern journalism, it is not my business to defend it. It justifies its own existence by the great Darwinian principle of the survival of the vulgarest.

Nothing is so aggravating than calmness.

He rides in the row at ten o clock in the morning, goes to the Opera three times a week, changes his clothes at least five times a day, and dines out every night of the season. You don't call that leading an idle life, do you?

It is art, and art only, that reveals us to ourselves.

I don't like novels that end happily. They depress me so much