“People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.”
“The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves.”
“Thank Heaven, the sun has gone in, and I don't have to go out and enjoy it.”
“Most people sell their souls, and live with a good conscience on the proceeds.”
“What music is more enchanting than the voices of young people, when you can't hear what they say?”
“I cannot forgive my friends for dying; I do not find these vanishing acts of theirs at all amusing.”
“How many of our daydreams would darken into nightmares if there seemed any danger of their coming true!”
“Don't laugh at youth for his affectations; he is only trying on one face after another to find his own.”
“When they come downstairs from their Ivory Towers, idealists are very apt to walk straight into the gutter.”
“The denunciation of the young is a necessary part of the hygiene of older people, and greatly assists the circulation of their blood.”
“There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.”
“The indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable perfection, even though it consist in nothing more than the pounding of an old piano, is what alone gives a meaning to our life on this unavailing star.”
“A best-seller is the golden touch of mediocre talent.”
“He who goes against the fashion is himself its slave.”
“If you want to be thought a liar, always tell the truth.”
“How awful to reflect that what people say of us is true!”
“The old know what they want; the young are sad and bewildered.”
“There are people who, like houses, are beautiful in dilapidation.”
“Only among people who think no evil can Evil monstrously flourish.”
“If you are losing your leisure, look out! You are losing your soul.”
“What I like in a good author isn't what he says, but what he whispers.”
“The vitality of a new movement in Art must be gauged by the fury it arouses.”
“How it infuriates a bigot, when he is forced to drag out his dark convictions!”
“Happiness is a wine of the rarest vintage, and seems insipid to a vulgar taste.”
“What joy can the years bring half so sweet as the unhappiness they've taken away?”
“Those who set out to serve both God and Mammon soon discover that there isn't a God.”
“We need two kinds of acquaintances, one to complain to, while to the others we boast.”
“There is more felicity on the far side of baldness than young men can possibly imagine.”
“Don't let young people tell you their aspirations; when they drop them they will drop you.”
“The mere process of growing old together will make the slightest acquaintance seem a bosom friend.”