It is so easy to be solemn; it is so hard to be frivolous.
"The Case for the Ephemeral"
All Things Considered (1908)
Kontext: I cannot understand the people who take literature seriously; but I can love them, and I do. Out of my love I warn them to keep clear of this book. It is a collection of crude and shapeless papers upon current or rather flying subjects; and they must be published pretty much as they stand. They were written, as a rule, at the last moment; they were handed in the moment before it was too late, and I do not think that our commonwealth would have been shaken to its foundations if they had been handed in the moment after. They must go out now, with all their imperfections on their head, or rather on mine; for their vices are too vital to be improved with a blue pencil, or with anything I can think of, except dynamite.
Their chief vice is that so many of them are very serious; because I had no time to make them flippant. It is so easy to be solemn; it is so hard to be frivolous.
„Odkládání dělá snadnou věc těžkou a těžkou nemožnou.“
„Panovat se naučíš snadno, vládnout jen těžko.“
„Láska je jako válka. Snadno se začíná, ale těžce končí.“
„Proč je tak snadné milovat cizince, ale tak těžké milovat sebe?“
„Uvědomila jsem si, že umírání je snadné. Žít je těžké.“
„Vybírat si po všechny dny to, co je těžké, jako by to bylo snadné, to je víra.“
„Slova jsou snadná jako vítr; věrné přátele je těžké najít.“
