but the bravest man among us is afraid of himself

Do you know that I am afraid that good people do a great deal of harm in this world? Certainly the greatest harm they do is that they make badness of such extraordinary importance.

I don't mind plain women being puritans. It is the only excuse they have for being plain.

There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

They did not understand a single word of what he was saying, but that made no matter, for they put their heads on one side, and looked wise, which is quite as good as understanding a thing, and very much easier.

My Salome is a mystic the sister of Salammbô a Saint Thérèse who worships the moon.

There is no country in the world where machinery is so lovely as in America. It was not until I had seen the water-works at Chicago that I realised the wonders of machinery; the rise and fall of the steel rods, the symmetrical motion of the great wheels is the most beautiful rhythmic thing I have ever seen.