The only thing that can grow is the thing you give energy to.

Society gains nothing whilst a man, not himself renovated, attempts to renovate things around him; he has become tediously good insome particular but negligent or narrow in the rest; and hypocrisy and vanity are often the disgusting result.

To be a man is to be a nonconformist.

There is no country in which so absolute a homage is paid to wealth. In America there is a touch of shame when a man exhibits theevidences of large property, as if after all it needed apology. But the Englishman has pure pride in his wealth, and esteems it a final certificate. A coarse logic rules throughout all English souls: if you have merit, can you not show it by your good clothes and coach and horses?

The reason of idleness and of crime is the deferring of our hopes.

Women, more than all, are the element and kingdom of illusion. Being fascinated, they fascinate.

Tis the old secret of the gods that they come in low disguises.