Anyone, however, who has had dealings with dates knows that they are worse than elusive, they are perverse. Events do not happen at the right time, nor in their proper sequence. That sense of harmony with place and season which is so strong in the historian--if he be a readable historian--is lamentably lacking in history, which takes no pains to verify his most convincing statements.

There is nothing in the world so enjoyable as a thorough-going monomania.

No man pursues what he has at hand. No man recognizes the need of pursuit until that which he desires has escaped him.

Resistance, which is the function of conservatism, is essential to orderly advance.

Our dogs will love and admire the meanest of us, and feed our colossal vanity with their uncritical homage.

Wit is as infinite as love, and a deal more lasting in its qualities.

Diaries tell their little tales with a directness, a candor, conscious or unconscious, a closeness of outlook, which gratifies our sense of security. Reading them is like gazing through a small clear pane of glass. We may not see far and wide, but we see very distinctly that which comes within our field of vision.