Things were easier for the old novelists who saw people all of a piece. Speaking generally, their heroes were good through and through, their villains wholly bad.

Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul.

In the conduct of life we make use of deliberation to justify ourselves in doing what we want to do.

[Money] is the string with which a sardonic destiny directs the motions of its puppets.

Marriage is a very good thing, but I think it's a mistake to make a habit out of it.

The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.

We find things beautiful because we recognize them and contrariwise we find things beautiful because their novelty surprises us.