The wages of sin are the hardest debts on earth to pay, and they are always collected at inconvenient times and unexpected places.

The Cardinal ... It was as if a pulsing heart of flame passed by when he came winging through the orchard.

Being dead was one thing, getting ready for a wedding another.

If you are lazy, and accept your lot, you may live in it. If you are willing to work, you can write your name anywhere you choose.

the friend in need is the one who is the friend in deed; ... if people were not friends in need, there was every likelihood that they never would be friends again in any conditions that might obtain.

I do not know why it is the fate of the world always to want something different from what life gives them.

What you are lies with you. If you are lazy, and accept your lot, you may live in it. If you are willing to work, you can write your name anywhere you choose, among the only ones who live beyond the grave in this world, the people who write books that help, make exquisite music, carve statues, paint pictures, and work for others. Never mind the calico dress, and the coarse shoes. Work at you books, and before long you will hear yesterday's tormentors boasting that they were once classmates of yours.