You are always training yourself to be, mind and body, as clear as crystal, and you always are, and never change; whereas I am a muddy, solitary, moping weed.

You will profit by the failure, and will avoid it another time. I have done a similar thing myself, in construction, often. Every failure teaches a man something, if he will learn.

We all draw a little and compose a little, and none of us have any idea of time or money.

Minds, like bodies, will often fall into a pimpled, ill-conditioned state from mere excess of comfort.

I will live in the past, the present, and the future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me.

External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty.

No varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself.