A villain must be a thing of power, handled with delicacy and grace. He must be wicked enough to excite our aversion, strong enough to arouse our fear, human enough to awaken some transient gleam of sympathy. We must triumph in his downfall, yet not barbarously nor with contempt, and the close of his career must be in harmony with all its previous development.
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Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding.
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There are few nudities so objectionable as the naked truth.
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The pessimist is seldom an agitating individual. His creed breeds indifference to others, and he does not trouble himself to thrust his views upon the unconvinced.
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Humor distorts nothing, and only false gods are laughed off their pedestals.
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The tourist may complain of other tourists, but he would be lost without them.
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The clear-sighted do not rule the world, but they sustain and console it.
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We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh.
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Humor distorts nothing, and only false gods are laughed off their earthly pedestals.
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It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.
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People who cannot recognise a palpable absurdity are very much in the way of civilisation.
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It is impossible for a lover of cats to banish these alert, gentle, and discriminating friends, who give us just enough of their regard and complaisance to make us hunger for more.
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It is in his pleasure that a man really lives it is from his leisure that he constructs the true fabric of self.
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It is in his pleasure that a man really lives; it is from his leisure that he constructs the true fabric of self.
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People who cannot recognize a palpable absurdity are very much in the way of civilization.
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There is nothing in the world so enjoyable as a thorough-going monomania...
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