To write simply is as difficult as to be good.

The crown of literature is poetry. It is its end and aim. It is the sublimest activity of the human mind. It is the achievement of beauty and delicacy. The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes.

There is no explanation for evil. It must be looked upon as a necessary part of the order of the universe. To ignore it is childish, to bewail it senseless.

Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs.

I never spend more than one hour in a gallery. That is as long as one's power of appreciation persists.

Usage is the only test. I prefer a phrase that is easy and unaffected to a phrase that is grammatical.

The worst of having so much tact was that you never quite knew whether other people were acting naturally or being tactful too. [The human element]