Pessimism like calumny is easy to do, and attracts immediate attention. The gossiper and the writer may find this out soon enough, and a little encouragement from the current mood will procure them successes that bring endless imitators in their trail. On the other hand saying good things about life in general and individuals in particular and making it interesting is a serious task which few can achieve with credit.

Life has taught me that it is not for our faults that we are disliked and even hated, but for our qualities.

[Describing his house:] It is a library with living rooms attached.

Boast is always a cry of despair, except in the young it is a cry of hope.

It makes me happy to encounter goodness, love of work, humane intelligence, and people no matter at what kind of job, be it ever so humble, or ever so exalted, who do it well and con amore.

Government lasts as long as the under-taxed can defend themselves against the over-taxed.

I would willingly stand at street corners, hat in hand, begging passerby to drop their unused minutes into it.