Well-mannered children could be conceived if the parents were well-mannered.

We cannot too soon convince ourselves how easily we may be dispensed with in the world. What important personages we imagine ourselves to be! We think that we alone are the life of the circle in which we move; in our absence, we fancy that life, existence, breath will come to a general pause, and, alas, the gap which we leave is scarcely perceptible, so quickly is it filled again; nay, it is often the place, if not of something better, at least for something more agreeable.

A plant is like a self-willed man, out of whom we can obtain all which we desire, if we will only treat him his own way.

The person who in shaky times also wavers only increases the evil, but the person of firm decision fashions the universe.

The world is full of contradiction.

Just begin and the mind grows heated; continue, and the task will be completed!

There is no outward sign of true courtesy that does not rest on a deep moral foundation.