Beware the mediocrity that threatens middle age, its limitation of thought and interest, its dullness of fancy, its too external life, and mental thinness.

Pain has no effect but to steal some of my time.

Who does not observe the immediate glow and security that is diffused over the life of woman, before restless or fretful, by engaging in gardening, building, or the lowest department of art? Here is something that is not routine--something that draws forth life towards the infinite.

Drudgery is as necessary to call out the treasures of the mind, as harrowing and planting those of the earth.

All greatness affects different minds, each in its own particular kind, and the variations of testimony mark the truth of feeling.

It seems that it is madder never to abandon one's self than often to be infatuated; better to be wounded, a captive and a slave, than always to walk in armor.

There are noble books but one wants the breath of life sometimes.