When Goethe says that in every human condition foes lie in wait for us, "invincible only by cheerfulness and equanimity," he does not mean that we can at all times be really cheerful, or at a moment's notice; but that the endeavor to look at the better side of things will produce the habit, and that this habit is the surest safeguard against the danger of sudden evils.

Whatever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves... how we can turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers.

The perfection of conversational intercourse is when the breeding of high life is animated by the fervor of genius.

Mirth itself is too often but melancholy in disguise.

There are two worlds: The world that we can measure with line and rule, and the world we feel with our hearts and imaginations.

If you are ever at a loss to support a flagging conversation, introduce the subject of eating.

We lose in depth of expression when we go to inferior animals for comparisons with human beauty. Homer calls Juno ox-eyed; and the epithet suits well with the eyes of that goddess, because she may be supposed, with all her beauty, to want a certain humanity. Her large eyes look at you with a royal indifference.