Real life is, to most men, a long second-best, a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible

Real life is, to most men, a long second-best, a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible but the world of pure reason knows no compromise, no practical limitations, no barrier to the creative activity.

Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact

Young men and young women meet each other with much less difficulty than was formerly the case, and every housemaid expects at least once a week as much excitement as would have lasted a Jane Austen heroine throughout a whole novel

It's a waste of energy to be angry with a man who behaves badly, just as it is to be angry with a car that won't go

Man is a feeble creature, to whom only submission and worship are besoming. Pride is insolence, and belief in human power is impiety