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.

With the intellect I always have always shall overcome, but that is not the half of the work. The life, the life Oh my God! shall the life never be sweet!

A man who means to think and write a great deal must, after six and twenty, learn to read with his fingers.

The mind is not, I know, a highway, but a temple, and its doors should not be carelessly left open.

If anything can be invented more excruciating than an English Opera, such as was the fashion at the time I was in London, I am sure no sin of mine deserves the punishment of bearing it.

Amid all your duties, keep some hours to yourself.

The use of criticism, in periodical writing, is to sift, not to stamp a work.