It is astonishing that any man can forbear enquiring seriously whether there is a God; whether God is just; whether this life is the only state of existence.

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.

My heart had been a darkened room for so very long, but then you found the light switch.

Whether it was power they sought, or revenge, or love-well, those were all just different forms of hunger. The bigger the hole inside you, the more desperate you became to fill it.

I bought some batteries, but they weren't included.

I've wasted the last five years of my life dealing in religious articles. People today find spiritual solace in ballroom dancing.

When I am with you, there is nowhere else I'd rather be. And I am a person who always wants to be somewhere else.

Some things look better inside of the store.

Youth is the period of harsh judgments, and a man seldom learns until he reaches thirty that human nature is made up not of simples, but of compounds.

You never want to play too vampiric or generically evil, so you look for emotions or character traits that you can relate to.

Travelling is good for your health and necessary for your amusement.

I try to incorporate faith every day, to not remind myself of past failures, to learn how to forgive and to trust the future.