“He should be cautious but never timid, bold but never venturesome; he should have a good digestion, genial manners, and, above all, a thick skin.”

One can only pour out of a jug that which is in it.

One wants in a Prime Minister a good many things, but not very great things. He should be clever but need not be a genius; he should be conscientious but by no means strait-laced.

There is no human bliss equal to twelve hours of work with only six hours in which to do it.

The secrets of the world are very marvellous, but they are not themselves half so wonderful as the way in which they become known to the world.

I hate a stupid man who can’t talk to me, and I hate a clever man who talks me down. I don’t like a man who is too lazy to make any effort to shine; but I particularly dislike the man who is always striving for effect.

Cham is the only thing to screw one up when one is down a peg.

Rights and rules, which are bonds of iron to a little man, are packthread to a giant.

People seen by the mind are exactly different to things seen by the eye. They grow smaller and smaller as you come nearer down to them, whereas things become bigger.

There is nothing perhaps so generally consoling to a man as a well-established grievance.

Let no man boast himself that he has got through the perils of winter till at least the seventh of May.

We cannot bring ourselves to believe it possible that a foreigner should in any respect be wiser than ourselves.

Never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that.

Wine is valued for its price, not its flavor.

Nobody holds a good opinion of a man who has a low opinion of himself.

There is such a difference between life and theory.

The double pleasure of pulling down an opponent, and of raising oneself, is the charm of a politician’s life.

There is in fact no such thing as art for art’s sake, art that stands above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics. Proletarian literature and art are part of the whole proletarian revolutionary cause.

One can not be an American by going about saying that one is an American. It is necessary to feel America, like America, love America and then work.

Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones.

It is the artist who realizes that there is a supreme force above him and works gladly away as a small apprentice under God’s heaven.

If you train your mind to search for the positive things about other people.

When Celtic get an opportunity to go above Rangers they’ve got to jump at it with both hands.

she kept sliding down, in small half-willing surrenders, till she was a heap, with the book held tiringly above her face.

Above literature?’ said the Queen. ‘Who is above literature? You might as well say one was above humanity.