No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence.

Can any man or woman choose duties? No more than they can choose their birthplace or their father and mother.

May I reach That purest heaven - be to other souls The cup of strength in some great agony; Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love, Beget the smiles that have no cruelty. Be the sweet presence of a good diffused, And in the diffusion ever more intense! So shall I join the choir invisible Whose music is the gladness of the world.

Education was almost entirely a matter of luck — usually of ill-luck — in those distant days.

Adventure is not outside man; it is within.

For character too is a process and an unfolding. . . among our valued friends is there not someone or other who is a little too self confident and disdainful. . . .

Self-confidence is apt to address itself to an imaginary dullness in others; as people who are well off speak in a cajoling tone to the poor.