“If I were to begin life again, I would devote it to music. It is the only cheap and unpunished rapture upon earth. ”

“Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea! How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea.”

“Madam, I have been looking for a person who disliked gravy all my life; let us swear eternal friendship.”

“People who love only once in their lives are shallow people. What they call their loyalty, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom, or their lack of imagination”

“The main question to a novel is -- did it amuse? were you surprised at dinner coming so soon? did you mistake eleven for ten? were you too late to dress? and did you sit up beyond the usual hour? If a novel produces these effects, it is good; if it does not -- story, language, love, scandal itself cannot save it. It is only meant to please; and it must do that or it does nothing.”

“I always fear that creation will expire before teatime.”

“I never read a book before reviewing it; it prejudices a man so.”