Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.

People always overdo the matter when they attempt deception.

I am convinced that the majority of people would be generous from selfish motives, if they had the opportunity.

The principal value of a garden is not understood. It is not to give the possessors vegetables and fruit (that can be better and cheaper done by the market-gardeners), but to teach him patience and philosophy, and the higher virtues - hope deferred, and expectations blighted, leading directly to resignation, and sometimes to alienation.

A garden is an awful responsibility. You never know what you may be aiding to grow in it.

You want to hate somebody, if you can, just to keep your powers of discrimination bright, and to save yourself from becoming a mere mush of good-nature.

The tenure of a literary reputation is the most uncertain and fluctuating of all.