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

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

“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? I...”

“The fact is that in order to do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand shivering on the bank thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.”

“No furniture is so charming as books.”

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

“Time is no one's friend--time has no social niceties and holds the door for nobody nowhere. But I hold the door for time, with my one good paw.”

“He who says what he likes shall hear what he does not like.”

“Modesty: the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it.”

“A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.”

“While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and imp...”

“Wealth of good manners is what no one can steal from you. You can keep it with you wherever you go.”