A man's mind will very gradually refuse to make itself up until it is driven and compelled by emergency.

This at least should be a rule through the letter-writing world: that no angry letter be posted till four-and-twenty hours will have elapsed since it was written.

The habit of reading is the only one I know in which there is no alloy. It lasts when all other pleasures fade.

To have her meals, and her daily walk, and her fill of novels, and to be left alone, was all that she asked of the gods.

It is my purpose to disclose the mystery at once, and to ask you to look for your interest,--should you choose to go on with my chronicle,--simply in the conduct of my persons, during this disclosure to others.

The best education is to be had at a price, as well as the best broadcloth.

But she knew this,—that it was necessary for her happiness that she should devote herself to some one. All the elegancies and outward charms of life were delightful, if only they could be used as the means to some end. As an end themselves they were nothing.