[The satirist] must fully possess, at least in the world of the imagination, the quality the lack of which he is deriding in others.

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

every human activity, whether it be love, philosophy, art, or revolution, is carried on with a special intensity in Paris.

Did St. Francis preach to the birds? Whatever for? If he really liked birds he would have done better to preach to the cats.

The redemptive power of divine grace no longer seemed credible, nor very respectable in the arbitrary performance that was claimed for it.

the bad is more easily perceived than the good. A fresh lobster does not give such pleasure to the consumer as a stale one will give him pain.

All our Western thought is founded on this repulsive pretence that pain is the proper price of any good thing.