To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.

A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

Irony is wasted on the stupid

A beautiful woman risking everything for a mad passion. A few wild weeks of happiness cut short by a hideous, treacherous crime. Months of voiceless agony, and then a child born in pain. The mother snatched away by death, the boy left to solitude and the tyranny of an old and loveless man. Yes, it was an interesting background. It posed the lad, made him more perfect as it were. Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.

I like my food dry. Not sick, not even dying, dead.

How does one cure the soul? Through the senses

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.