More helpful than all wisdom is one draught of simple human pity that will not forsake us.

Certainly the determining acts of her life were not ideally beautiful. They were the mixed result of young and novel impulse struggling amidst the conditions of an imperfect social state, in which great feelings will often take the aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion.

autobiography at least saves a man or woman that the world is curious about from the publication of a string of mistakes called 'Memoirs.

The best happiness will be to escape the worst misery.

'Character," says Novalis, in one of his questionable aphorisms - character is destiny'.

I've been turning it over in after-dinner speeches, but it looks awkward-it's not what people are used to-it wants a good deal of Latin to make it go down.

We cannot reform our forefathers.