He had the superficial kindness of a good-humored, self-satisfied nature, that fears no rivalry, and has encountered no contrarieties.

Explain! Tell a man to explain how he dropped into hell! Explain my preference! I never had a PREFERENCE for her, any more than I have a preference for breathing. No other woman exists by the side of her. I would rather touch her hand if it were dead, than I would touch any other woman's living.

We have all our secret sins; and if we knew ourselves we should not judge each other harshly.

Perfect love has a breath of poetry which can exalt the relations of the least-instructed human beings.

I beg your pardon: correct English is the slang of prigs who write history and essays. And the strongest slang of all is the slang of poets.

... the true seeing is within; and painting stares at you with an insistent imperfection.

Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world.