Yes, I am a thorough republican. No other form of government is so favorable to the growth of art.

I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.

To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.

Imitation is the homage mediocrity pays to greatness.

The sky was pure opal now.

It is a sad truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things. Names are everything. I never quarrel with actions. My one quarrel is with words. The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he is fit for.

Tea is the only simple pleasure left to us.