Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.

A man can’t be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray.

A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.

Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.

Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.

The function of the artist is to invent, not to chronicle.

It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.

A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.

A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.

Mr. Henry James writes fiction as if it were a painful duty.

Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.

One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.

One’s real life is so often the life that one does not lead.

Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching.

It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.

To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.

Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.

The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.