John Brooke is acting dreadfully, and Meg likes it!

She preferred imaginary heroes to real ones, because when tired of them, the former could be shut up in the tin kitchen till called for, and the latter were less manageable.

Don't try to make me grow up before my time.

They were enjoying the happy hour that seldom comes but once in any life, the magical moment which bestows youth on the old, beauty on the plain, wealth on the poor, and gives human hearts a foretaste of heaven.

Money is the root of all evil, and yet it is such a useful root that we cannot get on without it any more than we can without potatoes.

Go on with your work as usual, for work is a blessed solace.

You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long, and the great charm of all power is modesty.