Quite often, as life goes on, when we feel completely secure as we go on our way, we suddenly notice that we are trapped in error, that we have allowed ourselves to be taken in by individuals, by objects, have dreamt up an affinity with them which immediately vanishes before our waking eye; and yet we cannot tear ourselves away, held fast by some power that seems incomprehensible to us. Sometimes, however, we become fully aware and realize that error as well as truth can move and spur us on to action.

Where I cannot be moral, my power is gone.

Life is not anything, but an opportunity for something.

Modern poets add a lot of water to their ink.

Time is a strange thing. It is a whimsical tyrant, which in every century has a different face for all that one says and does.

If you want someone to develop a specific trait, treat them as though they already had it.

It is belief in the Bible, the fruits of deep meditation, which has served me as the guide of my moral and literary life. I have found capital safely invested and richly productive of interest, although I have sometimes made but a bad use of it.