The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone who thinks and feels with us, and who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.

If you miss the first buttonhole, you will not succeed in buttoning up your coat.

It is sometimes essential for a husband and a wife to quarrel - they get to know each other better.

Thus I reel from desire to fulfillment and in fulfillment languish for desire.

No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.

There is no trifling with nature; it is always true, grave, and severe; it is always in the light, and the faults and errors fall to our share. It defies incompetency, but reveals its secrets to the competent, the truthful, and the pure.

A purpose you impart is no longer your own.