Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger.

The most valuable thing I have learned from life is to regret nothing.

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.

If only the good were a little less heavy-footed

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

A good story is obviously a difficult thing to invent, but its difficulty is a poor reason for despising it.

The spirit is often most free when the body is satiated with pleasure; indeed, sometimes the stars shine more brightly seen from the gutter than from the hilltop.