Climate of Egypt in winter is the reign of spring upon earth, & summer in the air, and tranquility in the heat.

To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.

Ah, happiness courts the light so we deem the world is gay. But misery hides aloof so we deem that misery there is none.

For, as when the red-cheeked, dancing girls, April and May, trip home to the wintry, misanthropic woods; even the barest, ruggedest, most thunder-cloven old oak will at least send forth some few green sprouts, to welcome such glad-hearted visitants . . .

To certain temperaments, especially when previously agitated by any deep feeling, there is perhaps nothing more exasperating, andwhich sooner explodes all self-command, than the coarse, jeering insolence of a porter, cabman, or hack-driver.

Faith and philosophy are air, but events are brass.

I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas.