It is a pleasant thing to reflect upon, and furnishes a complete answer to those who contend for the gradual degeneration of the human species, that every baby born into the world is a finer...

When a man bleeds inwardly, it is a dangerous thing for himself; but when he laughs inwardly, it bodes no good to other people.

A newspaper consists of just the same number of words, whether there be any news in it or not.

It is impossible to persuade a man who does not disagree, but smiles.

There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write.

The one great principle of English law is to make business for itself.

A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.

I often want to cry. That is the only advantage women have over men – at least they can cry.

I fancied I had some constancy of mind because I could bear my own sufferings, but found through the sufferings of others I could be weakened like a child.

At the moment, I’m toying with a new idea for a book, but fully engaged with writing screenplays, so the book idea – which needs empty space in my head – is barely formed yet.

It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations.

We are so very ‘umble.

Adversity is the trial of principle. Without it a man hardly knows whether he is honest or not.

Culture is a way of coping with the world by defining it in detail.

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.

Travel is the most private of pleasures. There is no greater bore than the travel bore. We do not in the least want to hear what he has seen in Hong-Kong.

He would make a lovely corpse.

The joys we expect are not so bright, nor the troubles so dark as we fancy they will be.

LOVE: A word properly applied to our delight in particular kinds of food; sometimes metaphorically spoken of the favorite objects of all our appetites.

Parents learn a lot from their children about coping with life.

A clever, ugly man every now and then is successful with the ladies, but a handsome fool is irresistible.

Bring in the bottled lightning, a clean tumbler, and a corkscrew.

You don’t carry in your countenance a letter of recommendation.

Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.

Family life itself, that safest, most traditional, most approved of female choices, is not a sanctuary: It is, perpetually, a dangerous place.

I was condemned to be beheaded, or burnt, as the king pleased; and he was graciously pleased, from the great remains of his love, to choose the mildest sentence.

I have likened writing a novel to going on a journey, with some notion of the destination I will arrive at, but not the whole picture – which emerges gradually as a series of revelations,...

Any man may be in good spirits and good temper when he’s well dressed. There ain’t much credit in that.

Anything for the quick life, as the man said when he took the situation at the lighthouse.

Where the law ends tyranny begins.

English history is all about men liking their fathers, and American history is all about men hating their fathers and trying to burn down everything they ever did.

The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new.

The writer catches the changes of his mind on the hop. Growth is exciting; growth is dynamic and alarming. Growth of the soul, growth of the mind.

The men who learn endurance, are they who call the whole world, brother.

Judicious absence is a weapon.

It is not death, but dying, which is terrible.

It is impossible to repent of love. The sin of love does not exist.

There are many sham diamonds in this life which pass for real, and vice versa.

I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.

It’s my old girl that advises. She has the head. But I never own to it before her. Discipline must be maintained.

What’s vice today may be virtue, tomorrow.

Nothing succeeds, they say, like success. And certainly nothing fails like failure.

If modesty and candor are necessary to an author in his judgment of his own works, no less are they in his reader.

I think I’m drawn to writing about something which feels intense and important.

I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free.

Credit is a system whereby a person who can not pay gets another person who can not pay to guarantee that he can pay.

Commend a fool for his wit, or a rogue for his honesty and he will receive you into his favor.

A cruel story runs on wheels, and every hand oils the wheels as they run.

It is best to love wisely, no doubt: but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all.

There are no signposts in the sea.