[I]t is well to have as many holds upon happiness as possible.

The younger brother must help to pay for the pleasures of the elder.

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its fragrance on the desert air.

Self-knowledge is the first step to maturity.

General benevolence, but not general friendship, made a man what he ought to be.

She looked back as well as she could; but it was all confusion. She had taken up the idea, she supposed and made everything bend to it.

[Mrs. Allen was] never satisfied with the day unless she spent the chief of it by the side of Mrs. Thorpe, in what they called conversation, but in which there was scarcely ever any exchange of opinion, and not often any resemblance of subject, for Mrs. Thorpe talked chiefly of her children, and Mrs. Allen of her gowns.