The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

There are two good things in life - freedom of thought and freedom of action.

The first duty of a woman is to be pretty, the second is to be well-groomed, and the third is never to contradict.

All important persons have about them someone in a subordinate position who has their ear. These dependents are very susceptible to slights, and, when they are not treated as they think they should be, will by well-directed shafts, constantly repeated, poison the minds of their patrons against those who have provoked their animosity. It is well to keep in with them.

It might be that to surrender to happiness was to accept defeat, but it was a defeat better than many victories.

What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammered I would probably... have gone to Cambridge as my brothers did, perhaps have become a don and every now and then published a dreary book about French literature.

Writing is a wholetime job: no professional writer can afford only to write when he feels like it.