d to
measure it by the standard of the past is to measure it by a standard on
the reflection of which its real perfection depends.

There are three kinds of despots. There is the despot who tyrannises
over the body. There is the despot who tyrannises over the soul. There
is the despot who tyrannises over soul and body alike. The first is
called the prince. The second is called the pope. The third is called
the people.

Costume is a growth, an evolution, and a most important, perhaps the
most important, sign of the manners, customs, and mode of life of each
century.

I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic
to be in love, but there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal.
Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement
is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty.

What consoles one nowadays is not repentance but pleasure. Repentance is
quite out of date.

Ideals are dangerous things. Realities are better. They wound, but they
are better.

Unless one is wealthy there is no use in being a charming fellow.

Shallow sorrows and shallow loves live on. The loves and sorrows that
are great are destroyed by their own plenitude.

An eternal smile is much more wearisome than a perpetual frown. The one
sweeps away all possibilities, the other suggests a thousand.

To disagree with three-fourths of England on all points is one of the
first elements of vanity, which is a deep source of consolation in all
moments of spiritual doubt.

Women live by their emotions and for them, they have no philosophy of
life.

As long as war is regarded as wicked it will always have a fascination.
When it is looked upon as vulgar it will cease to be popular.

There is only one thing worse than injustice, and that is justice
without her sword in her hand. When right is not might it is evil.

We spend our days, each one of us, in looking for the secret of life.
Well, the secret of life is in art.

The truth isn't quite the sort of thing that one tells to a nice, sweet,
refined girl.

If one plays good music people don't listen, and if one plays bad music
people don't talk.

How fond women are of doing dangerous things. It is one of the qualities
in them that I admire most. A woman will flirt with anybody in the world
as long as other people are looking on.

Englishwomen conceal their feelings till after they are married. They
show them then.

Moderation is a