Who can tell what metals the gods use in forging the subtle bond which we call sympathy, which we might as well call love.

It is greater than the stars - that moving procession of human energy; greater than the palpitating earth and the things growing thereon.

I would give up my life for my children, but not myself.

The peace and beauty of a spring day had descended upon the earth like a benediction.

You have been a very foolish boy, wasting your time dreaming of impossible things when you speak of Mr. Pontellier setting me free! I am no longer one of Mr. Pontelliere's possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, 'Here Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours,' I should laugh at you both.

The voice of the sea speaks to the soul.

Even as a child she had lived her own small life within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life - that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions.