The Charterhouse of Parma, by Stendhal. Penguin classic trans by Shaw.

some excellent quotes from it :

punning is incompatible with murder. (page 426)

reflections of that sort, in moments of passion, appear as much the mark of a vulgar mind as a pun would seem in Paris in similar circumstances. (page 435)

politics, in a literary work, are like a pistol-shot in the middle of a concert.

the immoral delight which the italians take in revenge derives from the strength of imagination in that people. the natives of other countries do not properly forgive – they forget.

the kind of wit which consists in delaying, with an exquisite sense of delight, the word the hearer longs for

to the middle class exaggeration is often mistaken for beauty