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.

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

... up to this date, I have never been shut up in a separate room, or hedged off with any observances. My study, all the study I have attained to, is the little 2nd drawing room where all the (feminine) life of the house goes on; and I don't think I have ever had two hours undisturbed (except at night, when everybody is in bed) during my whole literary life.

The middle of life is the testing-ground of character and strength.

There is nothing more effectual in showing us the weakness of any habitual fallacy or assumption than to hear it sympathetically through the ears, as it were, of a skeptic.

... 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.

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