What the poet says has never been said before, but, once he has said it, his readers recognize its validity for themselves.

An unmanly sort of man whose love life seems to have been largely confined to crying in laps and playing mouse.

All good art is in the nature of a letter written to amuse a sick friend. Too much art, particularly in our time, is only a letter written to oneself.

Lovers have lived so long with giants and elves, they won't believe again in their own size.

Aphorisms are essentially an aristocratic genre of writing. The aphorist does not argue or explain, he asserts; and implicit in his assertion is a conviction that he is wiser and more intelligent than his readers.

To ask the hard question is simple.

Get up very early and get going at once. In fact, work first and wash afterwards.