Corneille is to Shakespeare as a clipped hedge is to a forest.

Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.

A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.

I prefer a story to a prayer.

I am a happy soul, despite all life challenges.

Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.

Photography is still a very new medium and everything must be tried and dare.

Girls in my school were always prettier.

The object of power is power.

In Britain I'm sometimes regarded as a suspiciously Europeanized writer, who has this rather dubious French influence.

The true way to a man's heart is six inches of metal between his ribs." You have to love Anita Blake.

A lover's life lies in death. You shall not find a heart without losing the heart.