Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.

Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones.

Charles Greville was the most conceited person with whom I have ever been brought in contact, though I have read Cicero and known Bulwer-Lytton.

A very remarkable people the Zulus: they defeat our generals, they convert our bishops, they have settled the fate of a great European dynasties.

I'm not as soft or as generous a person as I would be if the world hadn't changed me.

That's one of those questions, whether human beings are really capable of change, or if all seeming changes are really a matter of framing the existing charact…

Some people are your relatives but others are your ancestors, and you choose the ones you want to have as ancestors. You create yourself out of those values.