An angel! Nonsense! Everybody so describes his mistress; and yet I find it impossible to tell you how perfect she is, or why she is so perfect: suffice it to say she has captivated all my senses.

Neither a work of nature nor one of art we get to know when they have been finished; we must surprise them in the process of beingcreated so as to understand them to some degree.

When an idea is wanting, a word can always be found to take its place.

It is only in misery that we recognize the hand of God leading good men to good.

The art of living rightly is like all arts; it must be learned and practiced with incessant care.

Plants and flowers of the commonest kind can form a pleasing diary, because nothing which calls back to us the remembrance of a happy moment can be insignificant.

There is no crime of which I do not deem myself capable.