Man is many things, but he is not rational.
I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever.
People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity.
Knowledge would be fatal. It is the uncertainty that charms one. A mist makes things wonderful.
I hate vulgar realism in literature. The man who would call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one.
Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other.
Women, as some witty Frenchman once put it, inspire us with the desire to do masterpieces and always prevent us from carrying them out.
My dear fellow, the truth isn’t quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman!
It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection.
The only people I would care to be with now are artists and people who have suffered: those who know what beauty is, and those who know what sorrow is: nobody else interests me.
Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.
When I like people immensely I never tell their names to anyone. It is like surrendering a part of them. I have grown to love secrecy.
In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place.
I have never given adoration to anyone except myself.
You seem to forget that I am married, and the one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties.
I drink to separate my body from my soul.
If there is anything more annoying in the world than having people talk about you, it is certainly having no one talk about you.
A writer is someone who has taught his mind to misbehave.
Indeed, no woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.
The basis of action is lack of imagination. It is the last resource of those who know not how to dream.