Asceticism is the trifling of an enthusiast with his power, a puerile coquetting with his selfishness or his vanity, in the absence of any sufficiently great object to employ the first or overcome the last.

Passion, intellect, moral activity - these three have never been satisfied in a woman. In this cold and oppressive conventional atmosphere, they cannot be satisfied. To say more on this subject would be to enter into the whole history of society, of the present state of civilisation.

Let whoever is in charge keep this simple question in her head (not, how can I always do this right thing myself, but) how can I provide for this right thing to be always done?

To understand God's thoughts, one must study statistics, for these are the measure of His purpose.

There is no part of my life, upon which I can look back without pain.

We set the treatment of bodies so high above the treatment of souls, that the physician occupies a higher place in society than the school-master.

The world is put back by the death of every one who has to sacrifice the development of his or her peculiar gifts to conventionality.