All authority is quite degrading. It degrades those who exercise it, and it degrades those over whom it is exercised.

The great events of life often leave one unmoved; they pass out of consciousness, and, when thinks of them, become unreal. Even the scarlet flowers of passion seem to grow in the same meadow as the poppies of oblivion. We reject the burden of their memory, and have anodynes against them. But the little things, the things of no moment, remain with us. In some tiny ivory cell the brain stores the most delicate, and the most fleeting impressions.

The English public takes no interest in a work of art until it is told that the work in question is immoral.

In the common world of fact the wicked were not punished, nor the good rewarded. Success was given to the strong, failure thrust upon the weak. That was all.

We can have in life but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible.

I don’t write this letter to put bitterness into your heart, but to pluck it out of mine. For my own sake I must forgive you.

Never love anyone who treats you like you're ordinary.