Hope itself is a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords; but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain.

Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.

A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

There is nothing so expensive, really, as a big, well-developed, full-bodied preconception.

Trust grows by trusting.

I smoke. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your f-kin' mouth.

He who runs away from a fearful calamity, a foreign invasion, a terrible famine, and the companionship of wicked men is safe.

There was a saying in Umuofia that as a man danced so the drums were beaten for him.

To be good we must needs have suffered; but perhaps it is necessary to have caused suffering before we can become better.

Daily life is governed by an economic system in which the production and consumption of insults tends to balance out.

Any belief in miracles is flat contradictory not just to the facts of science but to the spirit of science.

I am bewildered by the magnificence of your beauty; and wish to see you with a hundred eyes . . . I am in the house of mercy, and my heart is a place of prayer.

They say 'He cannot be found'. Something that cannot be 'found' is what I desire.