... 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.

The ideal is the flower-garden of the mind, and very apt to run to weeds unless carefully tended.

every generation has a conceit of itself which elevates it, in its own opinion, above that which comes after it.

It is often easier to justify one's self to others than to respond to the secret doubts that arise in one's own bosom.

I scarcely remember any writer who has ever ventured to say that the half of the work of the world is actually accomplished by women; and very few husbands who would be otherwise than greatly startled and amazed, if not indignant, if not derisive, at the suggestion of such an idea as that the work of their wives was equal to their own.

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

I have my own way of dividing people, as I suppose most of us have. There are those whom I can talk to, and those whom I can't.