Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.

It is the poverty connected with our species which subordinates one man to another. It is not inequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence.

I am a little deaf, a little blind, a little important and on top of this are two or three abominable infirmities, but nothing destroys my hope.

Feeble verses are those which sin not against rules, but against genius.

History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.

The best is the enemy of the good.

The way to be a bore is to say everything.