Being gifted needs courage.

The Danish glee: the national version of cheerfulness.

A love for humanity came over me, and watered and fertilised the fields of my inner world which had been lying fallow, and this love of humanity vented itself in a vast compassion.

My first experiences of academic friendship made me smile in after years when I looked back on them. But my circle of acquaintances had gradually grown so large that it was only natural new friendships should grow out of it.

Any feeling that I was enriching my mind from those surrounding me was unfortunately rare with me.

Six hours a day I lived under school discipline in active intercourse with people none of whom were known to those at home, and the other hours of the twenty-four I spent at home, or with relatives of the people at home, none of whom were known to anybody at school.

On the whole, the world was friendly. It chiefly depended on whether one were good or not.