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

I take a dose of mathematics every day to prevent my brain from becoming quite soft.

We learn words by rote, but not their meaning; that must be paid for with our life-blood, and printed in the subtle fibres of our nerves.

The difficult task of knowing another soul is not for young gentlemen whose consciousness is chiefly made up of their own wishes.

Confound you handsome young fellows! You think of having it all your own way in the world. You don't understand women. They don't admire you half so much as you admire yourselves.

We all remember epochs in our experience when some dear expectation dies, or some new motive is born.

It was one of those dangerous moments when speech is at once sincere and deceptive - when feeling, rising high above its average depth, leaves flood-marks which are never reached again.