Letters were first invented for consoling such solitary wretches as myself. Having lost the substantial pleasures of seeing and possessing you, I shall in some measure compensate this loss by the satisfaction I shall find in your writing.

The heart overwhelmed by grief knows no rest.

Would that thy love, beloved, had less trust in me, that it might be more anxious!

The name of mistress instead of wife would be dearer and more honourable for me, only love given freely, rather than the constriction of the marriage tie, is of significance to an ideal relationship.

it is not the deed but the intention that makes the crime.

Riches and power are but gifts of blind fate, whereas goodness is the result of one's own merits.

What cannot letters inspire? They have souls; they can speak; they have in them all that force which expresses the transports of the heart.