No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from.

When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere limitation and exclusion.

Don't let us rejoice in punishment, even when the hand of God alone inflicts it. The best of us are but poor wretches, just saved from shipwreck. Can we feel anything but awe and pity when we see a fellow-passenger swallowed by the waves?

I'm proof against that word failure. I've seen behind it. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure of cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.

Ignorance gives one a large range of probabilities.

But if Maggie had been that young lady, you would probably have known nothing about her: her life would have had so few vicissitudes that it could hardly have been written; for the happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.

I care only to know, if possible, the lasting meaning that lies in all religious doctrine from the beginning till now.