I knew all along that the prize I had set my life on was not worth the winning.

The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new.

If thou hast never been a fool, be sure thou wilt never be a wise man.

It is from the level of calamities, not that of every-day life, that we learn impressive and useful lessons.

There is no good in living in a society where you are merely the equal of everybody else. The true pleasure of life is to live with your inferiors.

Every man ought to be in love a few times in his life, and to have a smart attack of the fever. You are better for it when it is over: the better for your misfortune, if you endure it with a manly heart; how much the better for success, if you win it and a good wife into the bargain!

It is comparatively easy to leave a mistress, but very hard to be left by one.