Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect - simply a confession of failures.

Men are such cowards. They outrage every law in the world and are afraid of the world's tongue.

Conscience and cowardice are really the same things, Basil. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm. That is all.

It's tragic how few people ever 'possess their souls' before they die. 'Nothing is more rare in any man', says Emerson, 'than an act of his own.' It is quite true. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their life is a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

A mask tells us more than a face.

It is only fair to state, with regard to modern journalists, that they always apologize to one in private for what they have written against one in public.

Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get into it do that.