[U]sefulness is happiness, and... all other things are but incidental.

A reformer is one who sets forth cheerfully toward sure defeat.

A human heart can never grow old if it takes a lively interest in the pairing of birds, the reproduction of flowers, and the changing tints of autumn leaves.

To everything there is a bright side and a dark side; and I hold it to be unwise, unphilosophic, unkind to others, and unhealthy for one's own soul, to form the habit of looking on the dark side. Cheerfulness is to the spiritual atmosphere what sunshine is to the earthly landscape. I am resolved to cherish cheerfulness with might and main.

The eye of genius has always a plaintive expression, and its natural language is pathos.

Woman stock is rising in the market. I shall not live to see women vote, but I'll come and rap on the ballot box.

The old men gazed on them in their loveliness, and turned away with that deep and painful sigh, which the gladness of childhood, and thetransient beauty of youth, are so apt to awaken in the bosom of the aged.