Temptations come, as a general rule, when they are sought.

Truly there is nothing in the world so blessed or so sweet as the heritage of children.

Next to happiness, perhaps enmity is the most healthful stimulant of the human mind.

... I have always been a disappointment to my friends. I have no gift of talk, not much to say; and though I have always been an excellent listener, that only succeeds under auspicious circumstances.

Laughing is not the first expression of joy. ... A person laughs in idleness, for fun, not for joy. Joy has nothing, nothing but the old way of tears.

What happiness is there which is not purchased with more or less of pain?

Good works may only be beautiful sins, if they are not done in a true spirit.