Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind.

It is pleasure that lurks in the practice of every one of your virtues. Man performs actions because they are good for him, and when they are good for other people as well they are thought virtuous: if he finds pleasure in helping others he is benevolent; if he finds pleasure in working for society he is public-spirited; but it is for your private pleasure that you give twopence to a beggar as much as it is for my private pleasure that I drink another whiskey and soda. I, less of a humbug than you, neither applaud myself for my pleasure nor demand your admiration.

The author always loads his dice, but he must never let the reader see that he has done so.

What mean and cruel things men can do for the love of God.

I promised myself that if ever I had some money that I would savor a cigar each day after lunch and dinner. This is the only resolution of my youth that I have kept, and the only realized ambition which has not brought disillusion.

We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.

Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved.