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.

This garden has a soul, I know its moods.

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

Part of our good consists in the endeavor to do sorrows away, and in the power to sustain them when the endeavor fails,--to bear them nobly, and thus help others to bear them as well.

An author is like a baker; it is for him to make the sweets, and others to buy and enjoy them.

A pleasure so exquisite as almost to amount to pain.

Occupation is the necessary basis of all enjoyment.