I had always assumed that cliche was a suburb of Paris until I discovered it to be a street in Oxford.

The work of Henry James has always seemed divisible by a simple dynastic arrangement into three reigns: James I, James II, and the Old Pretender

Greatness is so often a courteous synonym for great success.

Any stigma, as the old saying is, will serve to beat a dogma.

History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other.

Success is little more than a chemical compound of man with moment.

The detective story is the normal recreation of noble minds.

People who jump to conclusions rarely alight on them.

Autobiography is an unrivaled vehicle for telling the truth about other people.

Biography is a very definite region bounded on the north by history, on the south by fiction, on the east by obituary, and on the west by tedium.

The Crimean War is one of the bad jokes of history.

No young woman of good breeding should show exclusive partiality to one partner all night.

Even when our children are still young and defenseless, we feel intimations of their departure. We find ourselves staring at them with nostalgia, wistful for the person they're about to no longer be.

When we fight upstream against a rocky undercurrent, every foothold takes on a kind of urgency.

A conquered foe should be watched.

He plaies well that winnes. [He plays well that wins.]

I'm not somebody who throws myself out in front of things.

I guess you could say I'm what this country is all about.

... God is going to judge righteously... . what did each one do in relation to what he or she knew to be right of wrong?

Cultures that don't laugh at themselves are cults.

I at least want to keep having fun, and the rest we will see.