“Not for nothing one face, one character, one fact makes much impression on him, and another none.”

“...Tolstoy's characters seem to come forward to meet you, very conscious of the impression they are making on one another and on the reader.”

“The only characters I ever don't like are ones that leave no impression on me. And I don't write characters that leave no impression on me.”

“Upon meeting Julian Morrow, one has the impression that he is a man of extraordinary sympathy and warmth. But what you call his 'Asiatic serenity' is, I think, a mask for great coldness. The face one shows him he invariably reflects back at one, creating the illusion of warmth and depth when in fact he is brittle and shallow as a mirror.”

“God hath given you one face, and you make yourself another.”

“Thus says the fool: "Association with men spoils the character, especially when one has none.”