It is bad enough to know the past; it would be intolerable to know the future.

The audience is not the least important actor in the play and if it will not do its allotted share the play falls to pieces.

The great trues are too important to be new.

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

The good traveler has the gift of surprise.

It is good to be on your guard against an Englishman who speaks French perfectly; he is very likely to be a card-sharper or an attache in the diplomatic service.

The ballet. I saw in the fugitive beauty of a dancer's gesture a symbol of life. It was achieved at the cost of unending effort but, with all the forces of gravity against it, a fleeting poise in mid-air, a lovely attitude worthy to be made immortal in a bas-relief, it was lost as soon as it was gained and there remained no more than the memory of an exquisite emotion. So life, lived variously and largely, becomes a work of art only when brought to its beautiful conclusion and is reduced to nothingness in the moment when it arrives at perfection.