To know that one has a secret is to know half the secret itself.

It is not desirable that we should live as in the constant atmosphere and presence of death; that would unfit us for life; but it is well for us, now and then, to talk with death as friend talketh with friend, and to bathe in the strange seas, and to anticipate the experiences of that land to which it will lead us. These forethinkings are meant, not to make us discontented with life, but to bring us back with more strength, and a nobler purpose in living.

Selfishness is that detestable vice which no one will forgive in others, and no one is without himself.

There is nothing that makes more cowards and feeble men than public opinion.

There are many trials in life which do not seem to come from unwisdom or folly; they are silver arrows shot from the bow of God, and fixed inextricably in the quivering heart - they are meant to be borne - they were not meant, like snow or water, to melt as soon as they strike; but the moment an ill can be patiently borne it is disarmed of its poison, though not of its pain.

The greatest architect and the one most needed is hope.

October is the opal month of the year. It is the month of glory, of ripeness. It is the picture-month.