When, all at once, you find you have something precious you only dimly suspected was to be yours, you almost wish it hadn't come so soon.

There are certain narrow, umimaginative, and autocratic old people who seem to call out the most mischievous and sometimes the worst traits in children.

Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes, by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers, and sisters, aunts and cousins, but only one mother in the whole world.

Father doesn't think very sudden, but he thinks awful strong.

To let blessed babies go dangling and dawdling without names, for months and months, was enough to ruin them for life.

Bear figs for a season or two, and the world outside the orchard is very unwilling you should bear thistles.

If you make children happy now, you will make them happy twenty years hence by the memory of it.