Whenever a man’s friends begin to compliment him about looking young, he may be sure that they think he is growing old

A woman never forgets her sex. She would rather talk with a man than an angel, any day.

Her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver; her mountains, with bright aerial tints; her valleys, teeming with wild fertility; her tremendous cataracts, thundering in their solitudes; her boundless plains, waving with spontaneous verdure; her...

He is the true enchanter, whose spell operates, not upon the senses, but upon the imagination and the heart.

There is a healthful hardiness about real dignity that never dreads contact and communion with others however humble.

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she...

A sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener with constant use.

Christmas! ‘Tis the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial fire of charity in the heart

The land of literature is a fairy land to those who view it at a distance, but, like all other landscapes, the charm fades on a nearer approach, and the thorns and briars become visible

There are certain half-dreaming moods of mind in which we naturally steal away from noise and glare, and seek some quiet haunt where we may indulge our reveries and build our air castles undisturbed.

A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.

Young lawyers attend the courts, not because they have business there, but because they have no business.

But a wide sea voyage severs us at once. It makes us conscious of being cast loose from the secure anchorage of settled life, and sent adrift upon a doubtful world. It interposes a gulf,...

A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.

A barking dog is often more useful than a sleeping lion.

After all, it is the divinity within that makes the divinity without; and I have been more fascinated by a woman of talent and intelligence, though deficient in personal charms, than I have been by...

He is indeed the true enchanter, whose spell operates, not upon the senses, but upon the imagination and the heart.

Honest good humor is the oil and wine of a merry meeting, and there is no jovial companionship equal to that where the jokes are rather small and laughter abundant.

The natural principle of war is to do the most harm to our enemy with the least harm to ourselves; and this of course is to be effected by stratagem.

Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.

An inexhaustible good nature is one of the most precious gifts of heaven, spreading itself like oil over the troubled sea of thought, and keeping the mind smooth and equable in the roughest weather.

A woman’s whole life is a history of the affections. The heart is her world: it is there her ambition strives for empire; it is there her avarice seeks for hidden treasures. She sends forth...

There is nothing in England that exercises a more delightful spell over my imagination than the lingerings of the holiday customs and rural games of former times. They recall the pictures my fancy used to...

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness but of power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and of unspeakable love.

I am always at a loss at how much to believe of my own stories.

The easiest thing to do, whenever you fail, is to put yourself down by blaming your lack of ability for your misfortunes.

There is never jealousy where there is not strong regard

Ay, go to the grave of buried love and meditate! There settle the account with thy conscience for every past benefit unrequited – every past endearment unregarded, of that departed being, who can never, never,...

Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.

It is not poverty so much as pretense that harasses a ruined man – the struggle between a proud mind and an empty purse – the keeping up of a hollow show that must soon...

For my part, I love to give myself up to the illusion of poetry. A hero of fiction that never existed is just as valuable to me as a hero of history that existed a...

Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.

…ducks and geese are foolish things, and must be looked after, but girls can take care of themselves.

Society is like a lawn where every roughness is smoothed, every bramble eradicated, and where the eye is delighted by the smiling verdure of a velvet surface

There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations.

They who drink beer will think beer.

Those men are most apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home.

Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the poet to become tender and imaginitive in the loneliness of confinement....

Rising genius always shoots out its rays from among the clouds, but these will gradually roll away and disappear as it ascends to its steady luster.

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.

Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; a mother’s secret hope outlives them all!

. . . he would have passed a pleasant life of it, in despite of the Devil and all his works, if his path had not been crossed by a being that causes more perplexity...

To look upon its grass grown yard, where the sunbeams seem to sleep so quietly, one would think that there at least the dead might rest in peace.

Great minds have purposes; little minds have wishes. Little minds are subdued by misfortunes; great minds rise above them.

The great British Library –an immense collection of volumes of all ages and languages, many of which are now forgotten, and most of which are seldom read: one of these sequestered pools of obsolete literature...

Great minds have purpose, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them.

Temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.

How easy is it for one benevolent being to diffuse pleasure around him, and how truly is a kind heart a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity to freshen into smiles.

The grate had been removed from the wide overwhelming fireplace, to make way for a fire of wood, in the midst of which was an enormous log glowing and blazing, and sending forth a vast...

One of the greatest and simplest tools for learning more and growing is doing more.