It is a sad weakness in us, after all, that the thought of a man's death hallows him anew to us; as if life were not sacred too.

It is pleasant to have a kind word now and then when one is not near enough to have a kind glance or a hearty shake by the hand.

Man may content himself with the applause of the world and the homage paid to his intellect, but woman's heart has holier idols.

I trust you as holy men trust God; you could do nought that was not pure and loving, though the deed might pierce me unto death.

It's them as take advantage that get advantage I' this world, I think: folks have to wait long enough afore it's brought to 'em.

An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.

Any coward can fight a battle when he's sure of winning; but give me the man who has the pluck to fight when he's sure of losing.

The difficult task of knowing another soul is not for young gentlemen whose consciousness is chiefly made up of their own wishes.

It’s rather a strong check to one’s self-complacency to find how much of one’s right doing depends on not being in want of money.

There is a chill air surrounding those who are down in the world, and people are glad to get away from them, as from a cold room.

There's truth in wine, and there may be some in gin and muddy beer; but whether it's truth worth my knowing, is another question.

It is good to be helpful and kindly, but don't give yourself to be melted into candle grease for the benefit of the tallow trade.

Fate has carried me 'Mid the thick arrows: I will keep my stand Not shrink and let the shaft pass by my breast To pierce another.

The mother's love is at first an absorbing delight, blunting all other sensibilities; it is an expansion of the animal existence.

You may try but you can never imagine what it is to have a man's form of genius in you, and to suffer the slavery of being a girl.

Under every guilty secret there is hidden a brood of guilty wishes, whose unwholesome infecting life is cherished by the darkness.

Obligation may be stretched till it is no better than a brand of slavery stamped on us when we were too young to know its meaning.

The law and medicine should be very serious professions to undertake, should they not? People's lives and fortunes depend on them.

There is so much to read and the days are so short! I get more hungry for knowledge every day, and less able to satisfy my hunger.

What destroys us most effectively is not a malign fate but our own capacity for self-deception and for degrading our own best self.

Perhaps the most delightful friendships are those in which there is much agreement, much disputation, and yet more personal liking.

Hostesses who entertain much must make up their parties as ministers make up their cabinets, on grounds other than personal liking.

I don't want the world to give me anything for my books except money enough to save me from the temptation to write only for money.

She was no longer wrestling with the grief, but could sit down with it as a lasting companion and make it a sharer in her thoughts.

In the man whose childhood has known caresses and kindness, there is always a fiber of memory that can be touched to gentle issues.

I don't feel sure about doing good in any way now; everything seems like going on a mission to a people whose language I don't know.

... in no part of the world is genteel visiting founded on esteem, in the absence of suitable furniture and complete dinner-service.

Better a wrong will than a wavering; better a steadfast enemy than an uncertain friend; better a false belief than no belief at all.

Solomon's Proverbs, I think, have omitted to say, that as the sore palate findeth grit, so an uneasy consciousness heareth innuendos.

Life is like our game at whist ... I don't enjoy the game much, but I like to play my cards well, and see what will be the end of it.

The sons of Judah have to choose that God may again choose them. The divine principle of our race is action, choice, resolved memory.

The worst of all hobbies are those that people think they can get money at. They shoot their money down like corn out of a sack then.

Perhaps the wind Wails so in winter for the summers dead, And all sad sounds are nature's funeral cries For what has been and is not.

Tis a petty kind of fame At best, that comes of making violins; And saves no masses, either. Thou wilt go To purgatory none the less.

There is heroism even in the circles of hell for fellow-sinners who cling to each other in the fiery whirlwind and never recriminate.

Trouble comes to us all in this life: we set our hearts on things which it isn't God's will for us to have, and then we go sorrowing.

He had the superficial kindness of a good-humored, self-satisfied nature, that fears no rivalry, and has encountered no contrarieties.

Death is the only physician, the shadow of his valley the only journeying that will cure us of age and the gathering fatigue of years.

I'd sooner have one real grief on my mind than twenty false. It's better to know one's robbed than to think one's going to be murdered.

"Heaven help us," said the old religion; the new one, from its very lack of that faith, will teach us all the more to help one another.

We have no right to come forward and urge wider changes for good, until we have tried to alter the evils which lie under our own hands.

Ignorant kindness may have the effect of cruelty; but to be angry with it as if it were direct cruelty would be an ignorant unkindness.

It is the way with half the truth amidst which we live, that it only haunts us and makes dull pulsations that are never born into sound.

The floods of nonsense printed in the form of critical opinions seem to me a chief curse of the times, a chief obstacle to true culture.

There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.

The vainest woman is never thoroughly conscious of her beauty till she is loved by the man who sets her own passion vibrating in return.

You may try — but you can never imagine what it is to have a man's force of genius in you, and yet to suffer the slavery of being a girl.

No anguish I have had to bear on your account has been too heavy a price to pay for the new life into which I have entered in loving you.

autobiography at least saves a man or woman that the world is curious about from the publication of a string of mistakes called 'Memoirs.

We learn words by rote, but not their meaning; that must be paid for with our life-blood, and printed in the subtle fibres of our nerves.

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