No mockery in this world ever sounds to me so hollow as that of being told to cultivate happiness. What does such advice mean? Happiness is not a potato, to be planted in mould, and tilled with manure. Happiness is a glory shining far down upon us out of Heaven. She is a divine dew which the soul, on certain of its summer mornings, feels dropping upon it from the amaranth bloom and golden fruitage of Paradise.

There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort.

Better to try all things and find all empty, than to try nothing and leave your life a blank.

As to the mouth, it delights at times in laughter; it is disposed to impart all that the brain conceives; though I daresay it would be silent on much the heart experiences. Mobile and flexible, it was never intended to be compressed in the eternal silence of solitude: it is a mouth which should speak much and smile often, and have human affection for its interlocutor.

Oft a little morning rain Foretells a pleasant day.

Talented people almost always know full well the excellence that is in them.

Look twice before you leap.