The great man is too often all of a piece; it is the little man that is a bundle of contradictory elements. He is inexhaustible. You never come to the end of the surprises he has in store for you.

The great tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love. W.

The humorist has a good eye for the humbug; he does not always recognize the saint.

The ideal has many names, and beauty is but one of them.

The important thing was to love rather than to be loved. W.

The inclination to digress is human. But the dramatist must avoid it even more strenuously than the saint must avoid sin, for while sin may be venial, digression is mortal.

The life force is vigorous. The delight that accompanies it counter-balances all the pains and hardships that confront men. It makes life worth living.

The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.

The nature of men and women - their essential nature - is so vile and despicable that if you were to portray a person as he real W.

The only important thing in a book is the meaning it has for you.