Shakespeare might have met Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the white streets of London, or seen the serving-men of rival houses bite their thumbs at each other in the open square; but Hamlet came out of his soul, and Romeo out of his passion.

He who stands most remote from his age is he who mirrors it best.

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

It is that deep spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it.

To give and not expect return, that is what lies at the heart of love.

I don't like compliments, and I don't see why a man should think he is pleasing a woman enormously when he says to her a whole heap of things that he doesn't mean.

George Moore leads his readers to the latrine and locks them in.