Human happiness has always its abatements; the brightest sunshine of success is not without a cloud.

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.

All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.

Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as a secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh.

Southerners make good novelists: they have so many stories because they have so much family.

I see a sea of millions of people going down with their own negative thoughts, going down for the third time in this big sea of iniquity and negativity.

The central opposition between magic and science is the opposition between power and knowledge.

Art is the ability to separate the significant from the insignificant.

To step into acting was not that difficult a transition to make. What was difficult was the work and the practice that went into becoming good at it, because I hadn't had any training.

I see now that true love isn’t fickle; it's what we put into it. If we work hard at loving someone, then no one can corrupt the love we have.

The criterion of action is that todays work should not be deferred till the following day.

I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. I've never had an affair with her.