It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.
Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.
Perhaps one of the most difficult things for us to do is to choose a notable and joyous dress for men. There would be more joy in life if we were to accustom ourselves to use all the beautiful colours we can in fashioning our own clothes.
I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
While we look to the dramatist to give romance to realism, we ask of the actor to give realism to romance.
In designing the scenery and costumes for any of Shakespeare's plays, the first thing the artist has to settle is the best date for the drama. This should be determined by the general spirit of the play more than by any actual historical references which may occur in it.
It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of art.
I think it is perfectly natural for any artist to admire intensely and love a young man. It is an incident in the life of almost every artist.
Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.
I have never given adoration to any body except myself.
Woman begins by resisting a man's advances and ends by blocking his retreat.
The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray.
In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.
I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.
If a work of art is rich and vital and complete, those who have artistic instincts will see its beauty, and those to whom ethics appeal more strongly than aesthetics will see its moral lesson. It will fill the cowardly with terror, and the unclean will see in it their own shame.
Technique is really personality. That is the reason why the artist cannot teach it, why the pupil cannot learn it, and why the aesthetic critic can understand it.
The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.
Nothing is so aggravating than calmness.