Now and then, in this workaday world, things do happen in the delightful storybook fashion, and what a comfort that is.

…misfortune was much more interesting to her than good luck.

My definition (of a philosopher) is of a man up in a balloon, with his family and friends holding the ropes which confine him to earth and trying to haul him down.

Sympathy is a sweet thing.

...and Jo laid the rustling sheets together with a careful hand, as one might shut the covers of a lovely romance, which holds the reader fast till the end comes, and he finds himself alone in the work-a-day world again.

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.

It is never too early to try and plant [good principles] in a child, and never too late to cultivate them in the most neglected person.