"I have a great deal of what the world calls talent, but I have no application."

"In criticism I will be bold, and as sternly, absolutely just with friend and foe. From this purpose nothing shall turn me."

"I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human integrity has been ruined by the fall, and that I am a member of the ruined species."

"The world is a theatre, and we are merely players."

"The world is a joke; and I am the joker."