People are almost always better than their neighbors think they are.

Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.

It always remains true that if we had been greater, circumstance would have been less strong against us.

We are all of us imaginative in some form or other, for images are the brood of desire.

Fine old Christmas, with the snowy hair and ruddy face, had done his duty that year in the noblest fashion, and had set off his rich gifts of warmth and color with all the heightening contrast of frost and snow.

Childhood is only the beautiful and happy time in contemplation and retrospect: to the child it is full of deep sorrows, the meaning of which is unknown.

He was of an impressible nature, and lived a great deal in other people's opinions and feelings concerning himself.