Credit is a matter so subtle in its essence, that, as it may be obtained almost without reason, so, without reason, may it be made to melt away.

An author must be nothing if he do not love truth; a barrister must be nothing if he do.

When the ivy has found its tower, when the delicate creeper has found its strong wall, we know how the parasite plants grow and prosper.

Never think that you're not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. People will take you very much at your own reckoning.

Fame is a skittish jade, more fickle even than Fortune, and apt to shy, and bolt, and plunge away on very trifling causes.

What on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book, and a cup of coffee?...Was ever anything so civil?

The habit of reading is the only one I know in which there is no alloy. It lasts when all other pleasures fade.

There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily.

It has now become the doctrine of a large clan of politicians that political honesty is unnecessary, slow, subversive of a man's interests, and incompatible with quick onward movement.

There is no royal road to learning; no short cut to the acquirement of any art.

Love is like any other luxury. You have no right to it unless you can afford it.

I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute.

You can’t love anything properly from a distance.

You are you. Now, isn't that pleasant?

My dad farmed, my granddad was a farmer. I wanted to be a farmer.

If you want to be happy for a short time, get drunk happy for a long time, fall in love; happy forever, take up gardening.

The mere knowledge of secrets will not help the amateur conjurer very far on the road to success.

I care about politics just like any other citizen. I'm against the war in Iraq, or any type of war.

I can't understand why I flunked American history. When I was a kid there was so little of it.

I hope they make a video game of me. At least I wouldn't have any cellulite then.

We all have these places where shy humiliations gambol on sunny afternoons.