But what we strive to gratify, though we may call it a distant hope, is an immediate desire; the future estate for which men drudge up city alleys exists already in their imagination and love.

A fool or idiot is one who expects things to happen that never can happen.

The beginning of an acquaintance whether with persons or things is to get a definite outline of our ignorance.

Vanity is as ill at ease under indifference as tenderness is under a love which it cannot return.

She hates everything that is not what she longs for.

But if Maggie had been that young lady, you would probably have known nothing about her: her life would have had so few vicissitudes that it could hardly have been written; for the happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.

What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?