We are under the spell always of what is distant from us. It is not in our nature to desire passionately what is near at hand.

You can fall in love at first sight with a place as with a person.

By comparing what we know today with what the ancients appear to have known we can guess at the kinds of wine they drank.

A man desires praise that he may be reassured, that he may be quit of his doubting of himself; he is indifferent to applause when he is confident of success.

The man who asks a woman what she wants deserves all that's coming to him.

There is a case, and a strong case, for that particular form of indolence that allows us to move through life knowing only what immediately concerns us.

To be excited and at the same time satisfied; to desire and possess -that has been described somewhere as the wise man's idea of heaven.

London is a city of clubs and private houses. You have to be a member.

There is a case and a strong case for that particular form of indolence that allows us to move through life knowing only what immediately concerns us.

In the glad old days, before the rise of modern morbidities...it used to be thought a disadvantage to be misunderstood.

People who have been initiated "broke through in what felt like breaking down".

Every day is as amazing as we decide it is.

There was nothing new in sitting on this dock, on this or that wooden bench, watching for his boat to come. In some ways, she was always waiting for him.

I a stranger and afraid In a world I never made.

Painting is a language which cannot be replaced by another language. I don't know what to say about what I paint, really.

If you cut off your arm instead of going 'spurt, spurt, spurt' wouldn't it, like, go nuts? Or would it go with the beat of your heart?

He that cometh to seek after knowledge, with a mind to scorn, shall be sure to find matter for his humour, but no matter for his instruction.

Hold fast to the diary from today on! Write regularly! Don't surrender! Even if no salvation should come, I want to be worthy of it every moment.

Advice is like kissing: it costs nothing and is a pleasant thing to do.