Elegance has a bad effect on my constitution.

A little kingdom I possess, where thoughts and feelings dwell; And very hard the task I find of governing it well.

I don't like favors; they oppress and make me fell like a slave. I'd rather do everything for myself, and be perfectly independent.

The young people were playing that still more absorbing game in which hearts are always trumps.

I went [to war] because I couldn't help it. I didn't want the glory or the pay; I wanted the right thing done.

The patience and the humility of the face she loved so well was a better lesson to Jo than the wisest lecture, the sharpest reproof.

The duty we owe ourselves is greater than that we owe others.