Unused to the situations in which I find myself, and embarassed by the slightest difficulties, I seldom discover, till too late, how I ought to act.

Insensibility, of all kinds, and on all occasions, most moves my imperial displeasure

I am ashamed of confessing that I have nothing to confess.

Travelling is the ruin of all happiness. There's no looking at a building here after seeing Italy.

But if the young are never tired of erring in conduct, neither are the older in erring of judgment.

Credulity is the sister of innocence.

I wish the opera was every night. It is, of all entertainments, the sweetest and most delightful. Some of the songs seemed to melt my very soul.

to diminish expectation is to increase enjoyment.

Nothing is so delicate as the reputation of a woman; it is at once the most beautiful and most brittle of all human things.

A youthful mind is seldom totally free from ambition; to curb that, is the first step to contentment, since to diminish expectation is to increase enjoyment.

I cannot sleep - great joy is as restless as sorrow.

Reading is learning: Secure Future and earnings

I'm not a hopeless romantic. I'm quite the reverse. I'm a nasty piece of work, an ego maniac.

Every house we have lived in, every building to which our hands have lent their work, belongs to us by virtue of love or of regret.

My parents got divorced. Early and ugly. My mum was nuts so I lived with my dad. We used to play a father/son games. Pin the blame on me, rock, paper, get me another beer, casino night.

The more ignoble I find life, the more strongly I react by contradiction, in humour and in an outburst of liberty and expansion.

Only on the assumption of belief in the validity of values is the attempt to espouse value-judgments meaningful. However, to judge the validity of such values is a matter of faith .

For love and beauty and delight, there is no death nor change.

Fatigue dominates the lives of those who are living without direction and dreams.

The quickest way to learn about a new place is to know what it dreams of.