The City seems so much more in earnest: its business, its rush, its roar are such serious things, sights and sounds. The City is getting its living - the West-End but enjoying its pleasure.

I stood lonely enough, but to that feeling of isolation I was accustomed: it did not oppress me much.

Poverty, for me, is synonymous with degradation.

When his first-born was put into his arms, he could see that the boy had inherited his own eyes, as they once were - large, brilliant, and black.

I was no pope - I could not boast infallibility.

Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs. With this creed, revenge never worries my heart, degradation never too deeply disgusts me, injustice never crushes me too low. I live in calm, looking to the end.

You know full well as I do the value of sisters' affections: There is nothing like it in this world.