John Oliver Hobbes

"Ideals, my dear Golightly, are the root of every evil. When a man forgets his ideals he may hope for happiness, but not till then."

"Men astonish themselves far more than they astonish their friends."

"A statesman's words, like butcher's meat, should be well weighed."

"We must know the measure of a man's desires before we can sound the depth of his regrets."

"People get to like a soul, but a satisfactory hat makes an impression at first sight."

"There is no misery quite so wearing as the misery of a false position. It seems to slay the body and the soul."

"... there was never a woman so ill-suited to public life as I am. I have had to whip myself, as it were, into society, and the loneliness of it all has been terrific."

"Reader. But where are the Unities? Author. In life there are no Unities, but three Incomprehensibles: Destiny, Man, and Woman."

"He longed to make a mark, or, to express it more vulgarly, cut a figure. Now, fortunately or unfortunately, the number of figures which can be cut in the world is practically unlimited; the only difficulty is to cut precisely the kind of figure one would wish."

"He did not speak again till just before he died, when he kissed his wife’s hand with singular tenderness and called her "Elizabeth." She had been christened Augusta Frederica; but then, as the doctors explained, dying men often make these mistakes."

""Ah," said that gentleman, ever ready to discuss one friend with another—in fact, it was chiefly for this pleasure that he made them..."

"... he fell a too ready victim to circumstances: he helped to build the altar for his own sacrifice."

"Men heap together the mistakes of their lives and create a monster which they call Destiny."

"... love comes to man through his senses—to woman through her imagination."

"All is vanity,...discovering it—the greatest vanity."

"A man's way of loving is so different from a woman's," sighed Anna. "There ain't nothing," said Mrs. Grimmage, "there ain't nothing that makes them so sulky and turns them against you so soon as saying anything like that."

"Talking to you...is only thinking to myself—made easier."

"If the gods have no sense of humour they must weep a great deal."

"All forced virtue is degrading in its effect."

"A quart of doubt to an ounce of truth is the safest brew."

"What is beautiful is right: what is unbeautiful is wrong."

"It is our imagination, not our conscience, which makes us better than the beasts of the field."

"Disappointments—like fate and love—will not bear to be too much talked about."

"Disillusions all come from within...from the failure of some dear and secret hope. The world makes no promises; we only dream it does; and when we wake, we cry!"

"... entertainment for entertainment's sake is the most expensive form of death ..."

"Faults! I adore faults! I can never find too many in any creature."

"Dearest, every man—even the most cynical—has one enthusiasm—he is earnest about some one thing; the all-round trifler does not exist. If there is a skeleton—there is also an idol in the cupboard!"

"To die for one's great ideas is glorious—and easy. The horror is to outlive them. That is our worst capability."

"Those who have made unhappy marriages walk on stilts, while the happy ones are on a level with the crowd. No one sees 'em!"

"Women may be whole oceans deeper than we are, but they are also a whole paradise better. She may have got us out of Eden, but as a compensation she makes the earth very pleasant."

"Marriage is like a good pie spoilt in the baking. Everything is admirable except the result! It is very heavy... very, very heavy!"

": I'd rather be ruled by a liver than by love! : A liver lasts longer!"

"My dear, a man with a career can have no time to waste upon his wife or his friends—he has to devote himself wholly to his enemies!"

"What a man has done bores everybody, but what he is going to do is always delightful."

"... every man is practically three men. There is the man you know before he proposes: there is the man you have accepted: there is the man you have married."

"If women thought less of their own souls and more about men's tempers, marriage wouldn't he what it is."

"The wisest are those who can best adjust their disadvantages."

"Reason! A fool can give more reasons for his folly than a saint can urge for his wisdom. We have five senses, but only one conscience. That explains everything. The game is unequal."

"... political reputations are made by saying what you think, and they are kept by saying what you don't think!"

"... I had rather sleep and eat and dance Than hear a nightingale any day o' the week!"

"... unimaginable moments lack Th' appropriate language we would give to them. For daily talk and excellent occasions There is a stock of sentiments all wound Like skeins of wool around our tongues. We hold them Deliciously tinged for every use."

"Not all are blind that feel the scourge of love."

"Ah, it is silliness to pass a wolf because one is hunting foxes."

"An enemy's praise heralds all treachery, And grows the sweeter as revenge looks surer!"

"John Oliver Hobbes, with your spasms and throbs, How does your novel grow? With cynical sneers at young Love and his tears, And epigrams all in a row."