Here undoubtedly lies the chief poetic energy: - in the force of imagination that pierces or exalts the solid fact, instead of floating among cloud-pictures.

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?

It is an uneasy lot at best, to be what we call highly taught and yet not to enjoy: to be present at this great spectacle of life and never to be liberated from a small hungry shivering self.

The thing we look forward to often comes to pass, but never precisely in the way we have imagined to ourselves.

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

I've always felt that your belongings have never been on a level with you.

Every year strips us of at least one vain expectation, and teaches us to reckon some solid good in its stead.