Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable.

Men can construct a science with very few instruments, or with very plain instruments; but no one on earth could construct a science with unreliable instruments. A man might work out the whole of mathematics with a handful of pebbles, but not with a handful of clay which was always falling apart into new fragments, and falling together into new combinations. A man might measure heaven and earth with a reed, but not with a growing reed.

Before the Roman came to Rye or out to severn strode, / The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.

There are two ways of dealing with nonsense in this world. One way is to put nonsense in the right place; as when people put nonsense into nursery rhymes. The other is to put nonsense in the wrong place; as when they put it into educational addresses, psychological criticisms, and complaints against nursery rhymes or other normal amusements of mankind.

A puritan is a person who pours righteous indignation into the wrong things.

There are no new ideas about female education.

Marriage is an adventure, like going to war.