My dear boy, the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. What they call their loyalty, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination.. Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect---simply a confession of failures. Faithfulness! I must analyse it some day. The passion for property is in it. There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up. But I don't want to interrupt you. Go on with your story.

I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvelous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if only one hides it.

Knowledge would be fatal. It is the uncertainty that charms one. A mist makes things wonderful.

What the hell is an oboe?

The job of the critic is to report to us his moods.

I could never quite accustom myself to absinthe, but it suits my style so well

Selfishness is not living your life as you wish to live it. Selfishness is wanting others to live their lives as you wish them to.