I think reading a novel is almost next best to having something to do.

Temptations come, as a general rule, when they are sought.

To have a man who can flirt is next thing to indispensable to a leader of society.

One only says it is one's duty when one has something disagreeable to do.

The ideal is the flower-garden of the mind, and very apt to run to weeds unless carefully tended.

As for pictures and museums, that don't trouble me. The worst of going abroad is that you've always got to look at things of that sort. To have to do it at home would be beyond a joke.

It is so seldom in this world that things come just when they are wanted.

Laughing is not the first expression of joy. ... A person laughs in idleness, for fun, not for joy. Joy has nothing, nothing but the old way of tears.

Even in misery we love to be foremost, to have the bitter in our cup acknowledged as more bitter than that of others.

Good works may only be beautiful sins, if they are not done in a true spirit.

All perfection is melancholy.

Achilles weeps. He cradles me, and will not eat, nor speak a word other than my name.

Anything which is a huge problem for humanity we'll sign up for, if we can find a way to fix it.

Praise from the common people is generally false, and rather follows the vain than the virtuous.

Furthermore, a large portion of the assets of leading Russian figures is mixed, meaning that it is not quite clear how to counter this development.

Instead of focusing on the great men of God, I prefer to focus on the Great God of men.

There is space for a different kind of investigative reporting that's about immersion and obsessive attention to detail and deep listening.

Words are the only jewels I possess Words are the only clothes I wear Words are only the food that sustain my life Words are the only wealth I distribute among people.

Yield not to calamity, but face her boldly.