Because no man can ever feel his own identity aright except his eyes be closed; as if darkness were indeed the proper element of our essences, though light be more congenial to our clayey part.

Surely a gentle sister is the second best gift to a man; and it is first in point of occurrence; for the wife comes after.

The poor man wants many things; the covetous man, all.

A hermitage in the forest is the refuge of the narrow-minded misanthrope; a hammock on the ocean is the asylum for the generous distressed.

And yet self-knowledge is thought by some not so easy. Who knows, my dear sir, but for a time you may have taken yourself for somebody else? Stranger things have happened.

True places are not found on maps.

A beautiful woman is born Queen of men and women both, as Mary Stuart was born Queen of Scots, whether men or women.