I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.

The worst of having so much tact was that you never quite knew whether other people were acting naturally or being tactful too. [The human element]

Unconsciously, perhaps, we treasure the power we have over people by their regard for our opinion of them, and we hate those upon whom we have no such influence.

Art should be appreciated with passion and violence, not with a tepid, depreciating elegance that fears the censoriousness of a common room.

You know what the critics are. If you tell the truth they only say you're cynical and it does an author no good to get a reputation for cynicism.

Often the best way to overcome desire is to satisfy it.

Thank God, I can look at a sunset now without having to think how to describe it