... we are most of us brought up in the notion that the highest motive for not doing a wrong is something irrespective of the beings who would suffer the wrong.

People who write finely must not expect to be left in repose; they will be molested with thanks, at least.

How can one ever do anything nobly Christian, living among people with such petty thoughts?

Genius is the capacity for receiving and improving by discipline.

Self-consciousness of the manner is the expensive substitute for simplicity.

A woman's heart must be of such a size and no larger, else it must be pressed small, like Chinese feet; her happiness is to be made as cakes are, by a fixed recipe.

I think any hardship is better than pretending to do what one is paid for, and never really doing it.