The trouble about man is twofold. He cannot learn truths which are too complicated; he forgets truths which are too simple.

Those who foresee the future and recognize it as tragic are often seized upon by a madness which forced them to commit the very acts which make it certain that what they dread will happen.

If it be ungentlemanly to kiss and tell, it is still further from gentlemanliness to pray and tell.

... in the happy laughter of a theatre audience one can get the most immediate and numerically impressive guarantee that there is nothing in one's mind which is not familiar to the mass of persons living at the time.

A copy of the universe is not what is required of art; one of the damned things is ample.

It is astonishing how the human animal survives its misfortunes.

The principle of avoiding the unnecessary expenditure of energy has enabled the species to survive in a world full of stimuli; but it prevents the survival of the aristocracy.