“Lean on principles, one day they'll end up giving way.”

“So with curious eyes and sick surmiseWe watched him day by day,And wondered if each one of usWould end the self-same way,For none can tell to what red HellHis sightless soul may stray.”

“O wandering graves! O restless sleep!O silence of the sunless day!O still ravine! O stormy deep!Give up your prey! Give up your prey!”

“It is a great mistake for men to give up paying compliments, for when they give up saying what is charming, they give up thinking what is charming.”

“I am always late on principle, my principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.”

“I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.”

“Miss Prism: Do not speak slightingly of the three-volume novel, Cecily. I wrote one myself in earlier days. Cecily: Did you really, Miss Prism? How wonderfully clever you are! I hope it did not end happily? I don't like novels that end happily. They depress me so much. Miss Prism: The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.”