The real tragedy of the poor is that they can afford nothing but self-denial. Beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich.
The possession of wealth leads almost inevitably to its abuse. It is the chief, if not the only, cause of evils which desolate this world below. The thirst for gold is responsible for the most regrettable lapses into sin.
The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.
Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.
Sin and love and fear are just sounds that people who never sinned nor loved nor feared have for what they never had and cannot have until they forget the words.
Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.
People to whom sin is just a matter of words, to them salvation is just words too.
Our sins are manufactured in heaven to create our own hell.
Most dangerous is that temptation that doth goad us on to sin in loving virtue.
It’s so much nicer to be a secret and delightful sin to anybody than to be a feather in their cap.
In this world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without a passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers.
