Considering how foolishly people act and how pleasantly they prattle, perhaps it would be better for the world if they talked more and did less.

When some incident has shattered the career you’ve mapped out for yourself, a folly, a crime or a misfortune, you mustn’t think you’re down and out. It may be a stroke of luck, and when you look back years later you may say to yourself that you wouldn’t for anything in the world exchange the new life disaster has forced upon you for the dull, humdrum existence you would have led if circumstances hadn’t intervened.

For if the proper study of mankind is man, it is evidently more sensible to occupy yourself with the coherent, substantial and significant creatures of fiction than with the irrational and shadowy figures of real life.

Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequence than to have a really affectionate mother.

I always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things I don't.

Considering how foolishly people act and how pleasantly they prattle, perhaps it would be better for the world if they talked more and did less.

The world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willing avoids the sight of distress.