“But as we do not light up our houses with our brightest lamps for all comers, so neither did she emit from her eyes their brightest sparks till special occasions for such shining had arisen.”

The chances are perhaps more in favour of ruin than of success. But, whatever may be the chances, I shall go on as long as any means of carrying on the fight are at my disposal.

But who ever yet was offered a secret and declined it?

There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.

Success is a poison that should only be taken late in life and then only in small doses.

Words spoken cannot be recalled, and many a man and many a woman who has spoken a word at once regretted, are far too proud to express that regret.

Power is so pleasant that men quickly learn to be greedy in the enjoyment of it, and to flatter themselves that patriotism requires them to be imperious.

Of course, Lady Arabella could not suckle the young heir herself. Ladies Arabella never can.

There are words which a man cannot resist from a woman, even though he knows them to be false.

I cannot hold with those who wish to put down the insignificant chatter of the world.

There are worse things than a lie… I have found… that it may be well to choose one sin in order that another may be shunned.

Fortune favors the brave; and the world certainly gives the most credit to those who are able to give an unlimited credit to themselves.

Don’t let love interfere with your appetite. It never does with mine.

I have no ambition to surprise my reader. Castles with unknown passages are not compatible with my homely muse.

The habit of writing clearly soon comes to the writer who is a severe critic to himself.

It is a comfortable feeling to know that you stand on your own ground. Land is about the only thing that can’t fly away.

But mad people never die. That’s a well-known fact. They’ve nothing to trouble them, and they live for ever.

The best and brightest don’t go into politics. The best and brightest are at Goldman Sachs.

You see, to find the brightest wisdom one must pass through the darkest zones. And through the darkest zones there can be no guide. No guide, that is, but courage

For, in life, it is in the darkest zones one finds the brightest beauty and the most luminous wisdom.