No living orator would convince a grocer that coffee should be sold without chicory; and no amount of eloquence will make an English lawyer think that loyalty to truth should come before loyalty to his client.

When the ivy has found its tower, when the delicate creeper has found its strong wall, we know how the parasite plants grow and prosper.

When I sit down to write a novel I do not at all know, and I do not very much care, how it is to end.

High rank and soft manners may not always belong to a true heart.

Speaking of New York as a traveller I have two faults to find with it. In the first place there is nothing to see; and in the second place there is no mode of getting about to see anything.

Nobody holds a good opinion of a man who has a low opinion of himself.

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