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

[Walking] is the perfect way of moving if you want to see into the life of things. It is the one way of freedom. If you go to a place on anything but your own feet you are taken there too fast, and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside.

If one believed in angels one would feel that they must love us best when we are asleep and cannot hurt each other; and what a mercy it is that once in every twenty-four hours we are too utterly weary to go on being unkind.

Beauty made you love, and love made you beautiful.

What a blessing it is to love books. Everybody must love something, and I know of no objects of love that give such substantial and unfailing returns as books and a garden.

Reading was very important; the proper exercise and development of one's mind was a paramount duty.

Books have their idiosyncrasies as well as people, and will not show me their full beauties unless the place and time in which they are read suits them.