“I have somewhere seen it observed that we should make the same use of a book that the bee does of a flower: she steals sweets from it, but does not injure it.”

Money is the most envied, but the least enjoyed. Health is the most enjoyed, but the least envied.

The Grecian’s maxim would indeed be a sweeping clause in Literature; it would reduce many a giant to a pygmy; many a speech to a sentence; and many a folio to a primer.

Most plagiarists, like the drone, have neither taste to select, industry to acquire, nor skill to improve, but impudently pilfer the honey ready prepared, from the hive.

Strong as our passions are, they may be starved into submission, and conquered without being killed.

The excesses of our youth are drafts upon our old age.

Ladies of Fashion starve their happiness to feed their vanity, and their love to feed their pride.

He that studies only men will get the body of knowledge without the soul; and he that studies only books, the soul without the body.

The more gross the fraud the more glibly will it go down, and the more greedily be swallowed, since folly will always find faith where impostors will find imprudence.

Constant success shows us but one side of the world; adversity brings out the reverse of the picture.

Some read to think, these are rare; some to write, these are common; and some read to talk, and these form the great majority.

Unlike the sun, intellectual luminaries shine brightest after they set.

There are male as well as female gossips.

The poorest man would not part with health for money, but the richest would gladly part with all their money for health.

Honor is unstable and seldom the same; for she feeds upon opinion, and is as fickle as her food.

Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. Like friends, too, we should return to them again and again for, like true friends, they will never fail us – never cease to instruct – never cloy.

An honest man will continue to be so though surrounded on all sides by rogues.

Sooner or later you will find them out; you will discover that they drink, or steal books, or speak sharply to cats. Never trust a man or a woman who is not passionately devoted to geraniums.

Just put it to your personality, put it to yourself, and you develop your workout. Cause those books and things, those are other people’s gimmicks and hypes.

A harsh reality of newspaper editing is that the deadlines don’t allow for the polish that you expect in books or even magazines

Books had instant replay long before televised sports.

I loved the photographs of people wearing elaborate makeup and costumes – they really pulled at me inside. I was in that library every week for years, until I was about 13. I had a rich interior life, because I didn’t have much of a social life.

People are usually surprised to hear this, but I don’t really read children’s books.

I read my books aloud before they were published.

I owe it all to art books, chocolate and young men.