There is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathise with the colour, the beauty, the joy of life. The less said about life’s sores the better.
I never read a book I must review; it prejudices you so.
Cheap editions of great books may be delightful, but cheap editions of great men are absolutely detestable.
America has never quite forgiven Europe for having been discovered somewhat earlier in history than itself.
Millionaire models are rare enough; but, by Jove, model millionaires are rarer still!
To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.
An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them.
Life is the art of being well deceived, and to succeed, it must be habitual and uninterrupted.
The bright dawn flooded the room, and swept the fantastic shadows into dusky corners, where they lay shuddering.
When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring.
I’ll bet you anything you like that half an hour after they have met, they will be calling each other sister. Women only do that when they have called each other a lot of other things first.
The only difference between a caprice and a lifelong passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer.
She behaves as if she was beautiful. Most American women do. It is the secret of their charm.
The sky was pure opal now.
The fact is, the public make use of the classics of a country as a means of checking the progress of Art. They degrade the classics into authorities. They use them as bludgeons for preventing the free expression of Beauty in new forms.
Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself.
Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is usually Judas who writes the biography.
Truth is independent of facts always.
It would leave no room for developments and I intend to develop in many directions.
One must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without laughing.