Don Quixote thought he could have made beautiful bird-cages and toothpicks if his brain had not been so full of ideas of chivalry. Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.

I have you fast in my fortress, And will not let you depart, But put you down into the dungeon, In the round-tower of my heart, And there will I keep you forever, Yes, forever and a day, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, And moulder in the dust away!

Welcome, Disappointment! Thy hand is cold and hard, but it is the hand of a friend. Thy voice is stern and harsh, but it is the voice of a friend. Oh, there is something sublime in calm endurance, something sublime in the resolute, fixed purpose of suffering without complaining, which makes disappointment oftentimes better than success!

The men that women marry, And why they marry them, will always be A marvel and a mystery to the world.

There is nothing holier in this life of ours than the first consciousness of love, the first fluttering of its silken wings.

Authors must not, like Chinese soldiers, expect to win victories by turning somersets in the air.

Is this is a dream? O, if it be a dream, Let me sleep on, and do not wake me yet!