New arts are long in the world before poets describe them; for they borrow everything from their predecessors, and commonly derive very little from nature or from life.

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.

You attract others with your inner lights of positivity, love, and kindness.

I don’t see the me that you see. I wish for just a lit­tle bit I could climb into you and then you could climb into me and then we could tell each other what we saw there.

No one wants to rattle the cage of a "crazy" person whose family tends to snap.

Music is a pastime, a relaxation from more serious occupations.

I think seven years is a great time to end a series.

But I should tell you honestly that this administration under President Obama is doing in regard to our security more than anything that I can remember in the past.

As a creator, I always want to betray fans expectations.

even as human vitality is at its lowest ebb in the early morning, so it is with plant life in the early spring.

I'm always moving forward creatively and don't like stalling, trying to find the perfect snare drum sound.

I look at albums like novels. If you write a really good scene or a really good moment, just because you wrote it, doesn't mean that it fits with the story that you're writing.