Henry James

"The only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel, is that it be interesting."

"Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind."

"All life comes back to the question of our speech - the medium through which we communicate with each other."

"The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain sentence."

"There are few things more painful than to recognize where one's taste is inferior to one's ability."

"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to."

"The more you demand of yourself, the better you become."

"It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance."

"Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anything."

"Keep all your passions, always in check."

"The beautiful things are those that madden us."

"Experience is never limited, and it is never complete."

"There is nothing interesting except in relations."

"The very sense of his life was to be transmitted to others."

"Disappointment, when it comes, is just as tough in the beginning as it ought to be."

"In art economy is always beauty."

"The deepest principle of human conduct is the craving to be appreciated."

"Be kind, something that seems to work even in this harsh world."

"To take what there is and use it, without wait for the perfect."

"A writer who has published as many books as I have published."

"The time-honored bread sauce of the happy ending."

"Never say you know the last word about any human heart."

"The supreme good fortune is to know the truth."

"Senses of beauty and ugliness seem to be as essential in us as sensation itself."

"Consciousness was what the world was waiting for."

"Being 'in love' is good, being 'in love' as a permanent condition is something no one really wants."

"My heart sank when I realized the true nature of my predicament."

"The effort really to see and really to represent is no idle business."

"Success, for a work of art, seems to be a repetition of success."

"The ideal we all have before us is not to write badly."