... learning to love any one is like an increase of property, -- it increases care, and brings many new fears lest precious things should come to harm.

Ignorance is not so damnable as humbug, but when it prescribes pills it may happen to do more harm.

When a homemaking aunt scolds a niece for following her evangelistic passion instead of domestic pursuits, her reply is interesting. First, she clarifies that God's individual call on her doesn't condemn those in more conventional roles. Then, she says she can no more ignore the cry of the lost than her aunt can the cry of her child.

Having once embarked on your marital voyage, it is impossible not to be aware that you make no way and the sea is not within sight; that in fact, you are exploring an enclosed basin.

What should I do—how should I act now, this very day . . . What she would resolve to do that day did not yet seem quite clear, but something that she could achieve stirred her as with an approaching murmur which would soon gather distinctness.

To manage men one ought to have a sharp mind in a velvet sheath.

There is so much to read and the days are so short! I get more hungry for knowledge every day, and less able to satisfy my hunger.