A pessimist is somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks.

It is a much cleverer thing to talk nonsense than to listen to it.

I don't at all like knowing what people say of me behind my back. It makes me far too conceited.

It is a very poor consolation to be told that the man who has given one a bad dinner, or poor wine, is irreproachable in private life. Even the cardinal virtues cannot atone for half-cold entrees.

In the old days men had the rack. Now they have the Press.

In all unimportant matters, style, not sincerity, is the essential. In all important matters, style, not sincerity, is the essential.

Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.