... even in houses commonly held to be 'booky' one finds, nine times out of ten, not a library but a book-dump.

Mrs. Ballinger is one of the ladies who pursue Culture in bands, as though it were dangerous to meet it alone.

I think sometimes that it is almost a pity to enjoy Italy as much as I do, because the acuteness of my sensations makes them rather exhausting; but when I see the stupid Italians I have met here, completely insensitive to their surroundings, and ignorant of the treasures of art and history among which they have grown up, I begin to think it is better to be an American, and bring to it all a mind and eye unblunted by custom.

Everything about her was warm and soft and scented; even the stains of her grief became her as raindrops do the beaten rose.

The only thing to do is to hug one's friends tight and do one's job.

But after a moment a sense of waste and ruin overcame him. There they were, close together and safe and shut in; yet so chained to their separate destinies that they might as well been half the world apart.

There are two ways to spread happiness; either be the light who shines it or be the mirror who reflects it.