I . . . am always half afraid of finding a clever novel too clever--& of finding my own story & my own people all forestalled.

A man who has nothing to do with his own time has no conscience in his intrusion on that of others.

Wisdom is better than wit, and in the long run will certainly have the laugh on her side.

To yield readily--easily--to the persuasion of a friend is no merit.... To yield without conviction is no compliment to the understanding of either.

They walked on, without knowing in what direction. There was too much to be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects.

The post-office is a wonderful establishment! The regularity and dispatch of it! If one thinks of all that it has to do, and all that it does so well, it is really astonishing!

We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us.