It is a difficult matter to gain the affection of a cat. He is a philosophical, methodical animal, tenacious of his own habits, fond of order and neatness, and disinclined to extravagant sentiment. He will be your friend, if he finds you worthy of friendship, but not your slave.

You do not become a critic until it has been completely established to your own satisfaction that you cannot be a poet.

The years I have squandered in puerile excitement, in going hither and thither, in seeking to force nature and time, I ought to have spent in solitude and meditation, in endeavoring to make myself worthy of being loved.

The cat is a dilettante in fur.

Good heavens! what a foolish thing is this pretended perfectibility of the human race which is continually being dinned into our ears!

Brevity never fatigues; therefore, brevity is always a welcome guest.

Fortune loves to give bedroom slippers to people with wooden legs, and gloves to those with no hands.