Fine art, poetry, that kind of thing, elevates a nation.

It is necessary to me, not simply to be but to utter, and I require utterance of my friends.

Surely it is not true blessedness to be free of sorrow while there is sorrow and sin in the world. Sorrow is a part of love and love does not seek to throw it off.

Explain! Tell a man to explain how he dropped into hell! Explain my preference! I never had a PREFERENCE for her, any more than I have a preference for breathing. No other woman exists by the side of her. I would rather touch her hand if it were dead, than I would touch any other woman's living.

All meanings, we know, depend on the key of interpretation.

Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand.

It is always chilling, in friendly intercourse, to say you have no opinion to give.