Art is the nearest thing to life; it is a mode of amplifying experience and extending our contact with our fellow men beyond the bounds of our personal lot.

For we all of us, grave or light, get our thoughts entangled in metaphors, and act fatally on the strength of them.

In so complex a thing as human nature, we must consider it is hard to find rules without exception.

Everybody liked better to conjecture how the thing was, than simply to know it; for conjecture soon became more confident than knowledge, and had a more liberal allowance for the incompatible.

Doesn't this quote just call up feelings of comfort and home? Comparing friendship to the nest a bird lives in and builds with loving determination reminds me that having a solid relationship takes work and dedication. And yet, when you succeed in crafting a friendship, you can rest in the comfort it provides.

When what is good comes of age, and is likely to live, there is reason for rejoicing.

What novelty is worth that sweet monotony where everything is known, and loved because it is known?