It was ordained that our earthly pilgrammage should be a struggle, and life would be a tame affair if everything went smoothly.

happiness depends more upon the state of mind - and body, perhaps - than upon circumstances and events.

What is charm, it is not a moral quality, it is not intellectual for no man by much thinking is able to add a grain of it to his personality. One either has it or has it not, it cannot be acquired or even cultivated. It is not physical even, it seems to be added to the human personality, an aura, a glow, the gold dust upon a butterfly's wing, the bloom upon a peach.

So quiet and subtle is the beauty of December that escapes the notice of many people their whole lives through. Colour gives way to form: every branch distinct, in a delicate tracery against the sky. New vistas, obscured all Summer by leafage, now open up.

It was still the custom of the countryside to build with local materials produced as close to the selected site as possible, for transport was difficult, even the best of country roads being more fitted for horseback traffic rather than heavy loads.

You can lock up from a thief, but you can't from a liar.

Alas! in nature, as in art, we gain only according to our capacity. You cannot put an ocean in a pint pot.