O, because I have had only that kind of benevolence which consists in lying on a sofa, and cursing the church and clergy for not being martyrs and confessors. One can see, you know, very easily, how others ought to be martyrs.

Just so sure as one puts on any old rag, and thinks nobody will come, company is sure to call.

The soul awakes ... between two dim eternities - the eternal past, the eternal future.

To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.

...the heart has no tears to give,--it drops only blood, bleeding itself away in silence.

The greater the interest involved in a truth the more careful, self-distrustful, and patient should be the inquiry.

No ornament of a house can compare with books; they are constant company in a room, even when you are not reading them.