Men thin away to insignificance and oblivion quite as often by not making the most of good spirits when they have them as by lacking good spirits when they are indispensable.

It was terribly beautiful to Tess today, for since her eyes last fell upon it she had learnt that the serpent hisses where the sweet birds sing.

A lover without indiscretion is no lover at all.

My wicked heart will ramble on in spite of myself. (Arabella)

...Nameless, unknown to me as you were, I couldn't forget your voice!' 'For how long?' 'O - ever so long. Days and days.' 'Days and days! Only days and days? O, the heart of a man! Days and days!' 'But, my dear madam, I had not known you more than a day or two. It was not a full-blown love - it was the merest bud - red, fresh, vivid, but small. It was a colossal passion in embryo. It never returned.

The offhand decision of some commonplace mind high in office at a critical moment influences the course of events for a hundred years.

you are absolutely the most ethereal, least sensual woman I ever knew to exist without inhuman sexlessness.