The critics could never mortify me out of heart - because I love poetry for its own sake, - and, tho' with no stoicism and some ambition, care more for my poems than for my poetic reputation.

Much of the possibility of being cheerful comes from the faculty of throwing oneself beyond oneself.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.

It was not the apple on the tree but the pair on the ground that caused the trouble in the garden of Eden.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.

Books are men of higher stature, and the only men that speak aloud for future times to hear.