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

The devil tempts us not--'tis we tempt him, Reckoning his skill with opportunity.

Acting is nothing more or less than playing. The idea is to humanize life.

After all, people may really have in them some vocation which is not quite plain to themselves, may they not? They may seem idle and weak because they are growing. We should be very patient with each other, I think.

There's good chances and bad chances, and nobody's luck is pulled only by one string.

... learning to love any one is like an increase of property, -- it increases care, and brings many new fears lest precious things should come to harm.

... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.