You can say: 'Oh, Mr.Touchett, he takes care of his lungs, he knows a great deal about climates.' But without that who would he be, what would he represent?
'Mr.Ralph Touchett: an American who lives in Europe.' That signifies absolutely nothing--it's impossible anything should signify less.

'He's very cultivated,' they say: 'he has a very pretty collection of old snuff-boxes.' The collection is all that's wanted to make it pitiful.

I'm tired of the sound of the word; I think it's grotesque.
With the poor old father it's different; he has his identity, and it's rather a massive one.

He represents a great financial house, and that, in our day, is as good as anything else.

For an American, at any rate, that will do very well.