As for solitude, I cannot understand how certain people seek to lay claim to intellectual stature, nobility of soul and strength of character, yet have not the slightest feeling for seclusion; for solitude, I maintain, when joined with a quiet contemplation of nature, a serene and conscious faith in creation and the Creator, and a few vexations from outside is the only school for a mind of lofty endowment.

Oh, happy he who still hopes he can emerge from Error's boundless sea! - Faust.

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

The loss of a much-prized treasure is only half felt when we have not regarded its tenure as secure.

A wife is a gift bestowed upon a man to reconcile him to the loss of paradise.

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.

By nature we have no defect that could not become a strength, no strength that could not become a defect.