The friendship which is to be practised or expected by common mortals, must take its rise from mutual pleasure, and must end when the power ceases of delighting each other.

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.

What fueled this hatred? Society.

To measure the man, measure his heart.

Wisdom opens the eyes of love.

I enjoy painting. I don't know if I'm good at it, but I paint. I paint very quickly.

[A writer is] a priest of eternal imagination, transmuting the daily bread of experience into the radiant body of everliving life.

Nothing is given to you. You're going to have to work for it.

Liberation also means that even though I'm a woman I have masculine parts of my temperament which I can safely explore and integrate into my experience.

The old saying is true, behind every good man theres an incredible woman.

To pray against temptation, and yet rush into occasions, is to thrust your fingers into the fire, and then pray they might not be burnt.

The poet judges not as a judge judges but as the sun falling around a helpless thing.