When two Eglishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.

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.

People in the West are always getting ready to live.

The very nature of finance is that it cannot be profitable unless it is significantly leveraged... and as long as there is debt, there can be failure and contagion.

If a literary man puts together two words about music, one of them will be wrong.

A friend is somebody who says the same things to your face that they would say if you're not in the room.

The General Strike has taught the working class more in four days than years of talking could have done.

Every culture has contributed to maths just as it has contributed to literature. It's a universal language; numbers belong to everyone.

I believe one day the distance between myself and God will / disappear.

There is nothing we like to communicate to others as much as the seal of secrecy together with what lies under it.

We refuse to believe that which we don't understand.

But I'm not worried about seeking out the approval of others - that high school thing of joining the club.