People who cannot recognize a palpable absurdity are very much in the way of civilization.
It is not what we learn in conversation that enriches us. It is the elation that comes of swift contact with tingling currents of thought.
There is nothing in the world so enjoyable as a thorough-going monomania...
In the stress of modern life, how little room is left for that most comfortable vanity that whispers in our ears that failures are not faults! Now we are taught from infancy that we must rise or fall upon our own merits; that vigilance wins success, and incapacity means ruin.
It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.
Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding.
We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh.
The clear-sighted do not rule the world, but they sustain and console it.
The pessimist is seldom an agitating individual. His creed breeds indifference to others, and he does not trouble himself to thrust his views upon the unconvinced.
Edged tools are dangerous things to handle, and not infrequently do much hurt.
It has been well said that tea is suggestive of a thousand wants, from which spring the decencies and luxuries of civilization.
A villain must be a thing of power, handled with delicacy and grace. He must be wicked enough to excite our aversion, strong enough to arouse our fear, human enough to awaken some transient gleam of sympathy. We must triumph in his downfall, yet not barbarously nor with contempt, and the close of his career must be in harmony with all its previous development.