Well, I for one am unable to imagine how anybody who lives with an intelligent and devoted dog can every be lonely.

Strange that the vanity which accompanies beauty - excusable, perhaps, when there is such great beauty, or at any rate understandable - should persist after the beauty is gone.

I want to be as idle as I can, so that my soul may have time to grow.

It is beautiful, beautiful to give; one of the very most beautiful things in life.

If your lot makes you cry and be wretched, get rid of it and take another; strike out for yourself; don't listen to the shriek of your relations...don't be afraid of public opinion in the shape of the neighbours in the next house, when all the world is before you new and shining, and everything is possible, if you will only be energetic and independent and seize opportunity by the scruff of the neck.

What a blessing it is to love books.

Who can begin conventional amiability the first thing in the morning?