Wise people say it is folly to think anybody perfect; and as to likes and dislikes, we should be friendly to all, and worship none

To you I am neither man nor woman. I come before you as an author only.

Even for me life had its gleams of sunshine.

Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour ... If at my convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?

Nature seemed to me benign and good; I thought she loved me, outcast as I was; and I, who from man could anticipate only mistrust, rejection, insult, clung to her with filial fondness. To-night at least, I would be her guest-as I was her child; my mother would lodge me without money and without price.

He was the first to recognise me, and to love what he saw.

Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow firm there, firm as weeds among stones.