It really seems as if failure and hardship make more of a human being of folks than success.

no one in the whole world knows all a man's bignesses and all his littlenesses as his wife does.

Of two evils, I always choose the lesser.

I do not believe there is any one study that can be taken up that will broaden the imagination, that will be the source from which will spring more deep thinking and sincere research than the study of astronomy.

Nature can be trusted to work her own miracle in the heart of any man whose daily task keeps him alone among her sights, sounds and silences.

There was an exquisitely beautiful conception in my brain when I did this piece of work all alone from midnight until morning after the experience of a wonderful day. But I was not able to make the consummation anywhere nearly as beautiful as the inspiration. That, I suppose, is the cry of every heart struggling for self-expression.

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