"It is only by not paying one's bills that one can hope to live in the memory of the commercial classes."
"He paid some attention to the management of his collieries in the Midland counties, excusing himself for this taint of industry on the ground that the one advantage of having coal was that it enabled a gentleman to afford the decency of burning wood on his own hearth"
"A subject that is beautiful in itself gives no suggestion to the artist. It lacks imperfection."
"Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are."
"It is well for his peace that the saint goes to his martyrdom. He is spared the sight of the horror of his harvest."
"Judges, like the criminal classes, have their lighter moments."
"Only people who look dull ever get into the House of Commons, and only people who are dull ever succeed there."
"No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style."
"The General was essentially a man of peace, except of course in his domestic affairs."
"Each time that one loves is the only time one has ever loved. Difference of object does not alter singleness of passion. It merely intensifies it. We can have but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible. The Picture of Dorian Gray."