The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.

'Tis God gives skill, but not without men's hand: He could not make Antonio Stradivarius's violins without Antonio.

... we all know the wag's definition of a philanthropist: a man whose charity increases directly as the square of the distance.

Cruelty, like every other vice, requires no motive outside of itself; it only requires opportunity.

The tendency toward good in human nature has a force which no creed can utterly counteract, and which insures the ultimate triumph of that tendency over all dogmatic perversions.

The tale of the Divine Pity was never yet believed from lips that were not felt to be moved by human pity.

There is one order of beauty which seems made to turn heads. It is a beauty like that of kittens, or very small downy ducks making gentle rippling noises with their soft bills, or babies just beginning to toddle.