There are times when the mirth of others only saddens us, especially the mirth of children with high spirits, that jar on our own quiet mood.

The heart of a girl is like a convent--the holier the cloister, the more charitable the door.

Though no participator in the joy of more vehement sport, I have a pleasure that I cannot reconcile to my abstract notions of the tenderness due to dumb creatures in the tranquil cruelty of angling. I can only palliate the wanton destructiveness of my amusement by trying to assure myself that my pleasure does not spring from the success of the treachery I practise toward a poor little fish, but rather from that innocent revelry in the luxuriance of summer life which only anglers enjoy to the utmost.

It is often the easiest move that completes the game.

Death is the only monastery; the tomb is the only cell, and the grave that adjoins the convent is the bitterest mock of its futility.

A life of pleasure makes even the strongest mind frivolous at last.

The man who wants his wedding garments to suit him must allow plenty of time for the measure.