Regret of neglected opportunity is the worst hell that a living soul can inhabit.

A man must sometimes laugh at himself or go mad,’ said he. ‘Few realize it. That is why there are so many madmen in the world.

He was suffering from the loss of an illusion.

Thirstily he set it to his lips, and as its cool refreshment began to soothe his throat, he thanked Heaven that in a world of much evil there was still so good a thing as ale.

To do what you imply would require nothing short of divine intervention. You must change man, not systems.

An intelligent observation of the facts of human existence will reveal to shallow-minded folk who sneer at the use of coincidence in the arts of fiction and drama that life itself is little more than a series of coincidences.

Truth is so often disconcerting.