The synonyme of usury is ruin.

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.

We have an allergic reaction to dependency, but this is the state of the heart most necessary for a praying life. A need heart is a praying heart. Dependency is the heartbeat of prayer.

Who ever felt canary yellow and light blue are a suitable color should be tarred and feathered.

People are not always very tolerant of the tears which they themselves have provoked.

Where are the one billion people who lived and breathed in the year 1800, only two short centuries ago?

I haven't done period dramas back-to-back, or really anything back-to-back. You get asked to do what you're most recently famed for, so I'm careful of not repeating myself.

Creativity is an infinitely renewable resource - you are not going to run out of it - so don't be afraid to use it.

I see no issue with [Donald] Trump spending 48 hours in Scotland.Whether accidental or intentional, the fact that he was there when Britain voted to leave the EU was a good thing for him.

I like to feel the burn of the audience's eyes when I'm whispering all my darkest secrets into the microphone.

You can never trust a human being to behave as you would have expected in a given circumstance

Blood is thicker than water, but politics are thicker than blood.