the profession of the ministry is like matrimony: if it is possible for you to keep out of it, it's a sign that you've no business to go into it!

In connection with death, or birth, or love, modesty is only a rather puerile self-consciousness.

Of all the bitter and heavy things in this sorry old world, the not being necessary is the bitterest and heaviest.

... safety that depends on an apron-string is very unsafe!

... in a wicked way, it is an incentive to good living to observe the spice of enjoyment there is to a godly soul in a very little sin.

Books are like sapphires; they must be polished - polished! or else you insult your readers.

nothing is as conventional as adolescence.