The happiness of London is not to be conceived but by those who have been in it.

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.

It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one.

Without the library, you have no civilization.

Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist - it reduces him to his fighting weight.

John Locke invented common sense, and only Englishmen have had it ever since!

The center of the universe is everywhere.

I can be a nice person, but if someone is messing with someone I care about, the tougher side comes out a little more.

The way one sees is also dependent upon one's emotional state of mind. This is why a motif can be looked at in so many ways, and this is what makes art so interesting.

The rich live hand-to-mouth too-just on a higher level.

We must apply a judicial rather than a political standard to the information before us [if choosing a Judge].

There are these boutique writers out there who think if they are not writing their novels sitting at a bistro with their laptops, then they're not real writers. That's ridiculous.