Cakes and Ale

It's very hard to be a gentleman and a writer.

It's no good trying to keep up old friendships. It's painful for both sides. The fact is, one grows out of people, and the only thing is to face it.

Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it. It is like the perfume of a rose: you can smell it and that is all.

The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes...

...when you are young you take the kindness people show you as your right...

Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and a rare detachment of spirit. It cannot, like adultery or gluttony, be practised at spare moments; it is a whole-time job.

...you know what the critics are. If you tell the truth they only say you're cynical and it does an author no good to get a reputation for cynicism.