Life is very difficult. It seems right to me sometimes that we should follow our strongest feelings; but then such feelings continually come across the ties that all our former life has made for us,--the ties that have made others dependent on us,--and would cut them in two.

In so complex a thing as human nature, we must consider it is hard to find rules without exception.

The yoke a man creates for himself by wrong-doing will breed hate in the kindliest nature.

There is a sort of human paste that when it comes near the fire of enthusiasm is only baked into harder shape.

Correct English is the slang of prigs.

What destroys us most effectively is not a malign fate but our own capacity for self-deception and for degrading our own best self.

People who write finely must not expect to be left in repose; they will be molested with thanks, at least.