Literature is the expression of society.
The winter will be long and bleak. Nature has a dismal aspect.
After the pleasure of possessing books there is hardly anything more pleasant than that of speaking of them, and of communicating to the public the innocent richness of thought which we have acquired by the culture of letters.
After owning books, almost the next best thing is talking about them.
Our years, our debts, and our enemies are always more numerous than we imagine.
There is something marvelously soft in the study of nature which attaches a name to every being, a thought to every name, affection and memories to every thought.