A large reputation, like an impetus in a vacuum, can, in the absence of a countervailing force, be coasted on forever.
Seeming
Religion, art, taste, and other delusions.
Art can be serious but never sober.
God is to theology what infinity is to mathematics.
Lower pleasures are never quite as sharp the second time: they depend on surprise.
You can’t convince people that ugliness is beautiful. You can, however, convince them that it is bold, inspiring, visionary, unique, searching, thought-provoking, evocative, and unconventional.
All the pleasures shall be guilty, except the nasty ones.
Satire becomes easier and easier until it is impossible.
Now and then a readable novel is written that takes its author as its subject; we call these autobiographies.
Love-conquers-all is the dullest story in the world. In most of the interesting stories love conquers nothing whatever.
Nice manners are a minor virtue rarely found in people with major ones.