Ignorant kindness may have the effect of cruelty; but to be angry with it as if it were direct cruelty would be an ignorant unkindness.

In bed our yesterdays are too oppressive: if a man can only get up, though it be but to whistle or to smoke, he has a present which offers some resistance to the past—sensations which assert themselves against tyrannous memories.

My books don't seem to belong to me after I have once written them; and I find myself delivering opinions about them as if I had nothing to do with them.

Ignorant kindness may have the effect of cruelty; but to be angry with it as if it were direct cruelty would be an ignorant unkindness.

Friendships begin with liking or gratitude- roots that can be pulled up.

Speech may be barren; but it is ridiculous to suppose that silence is always brooding on a nestful of eggs.

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