"The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes. Change is the one quality we can predicate of it. The systems that fail are those that rely on the permanency of human nature, and not on its growth and development. The error of Louis XIV was that he thought human nature would always be the same. The result of his error was the French Revolution. It was an admirable result. All the results of the mistakes of governments are quite admirable."

“[On Bernard Shaw] An excellent man: he has no enemies, and none of his friends like him.”

“le mystère de l'amour est plus grand que le mystère de la mort.”

“From its earliest years every American child spends most of its time in correcting the faults of its father and mother; and no one who has had the opportunity of watching an American family on the deck of an Atlantic steamer, or in the refined seclusion of a New York boarding-house, can fail to have been struck by this characteristic of their civilisation. In America the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefits of their inexperience. A boy of only eleven or twelve years of age will firmly but kindly point out to his father his defects of manner or temper; will never weary of warning him against extravagance, idleness, late hours, unpunctuality, and the other temptations to which the aged are so particularly exposed; and sometimes, should he fancy that he is monopolising too much of the conversation at dinner, will remind him, across the table, of the new child's adage, 'Parents should be seen, not heard.'”

“And down the long and silent street, The dawn, with silver-sandalled feet, Crept like a frightened girl.”

“Lo! with a little rod I did but touch the honey of romance — And must I lose a soul's inheritance?”

“Tread Lightly, she is near Under the snow, Speak gently, she can hear The daisies grow.”