When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece

First, think in as homely a way as you can; next, shove your pen under the thought, and lift it by polysyllables to the true level of fiction

The fortunate man is he who, born poor, or nobody, works gradually up to wealth and consideration, and, having got them, dies before he finds they were not worth so much trouble.

Art is not imitation but illusion.

What young woman is not, more or less, a mirror?

Well, every one for himself, and Providence for us all--as the elephant said when he danced among the chickens.

In players, vanity cripples art at every step.