To marry a man out of pity is folly; and, if you think you are going to influence the kind of fellow who has never had a chance, poor devil, you are profoundly mistaken. One can only influence the strong characters in life, not the weak; and it is the height of vanity to suppose that you can make an honest man of anyone.

I was born in the country of Hogg and Scott between the Yarrow and the Tweed, in the year 1864.

I have always wanted to be a man, if only for the reason that I would like to have gauged the value of my intellect.

The first element of greatness is fundamental humbleness (this should not be confused with servility); the second is freedom from self; the third is intrepid courage, which, taken in its widest interpretation, generally goes with truth; and the fourth-the power of love-although I have put it last, is the rarest.

He's very clever, but sometimes his brains go to his head.

It is always dangerous to generalize, but the American people, while infinitely generous, are a hard and strong race and, but for the few cemeteries I have seen, I am inclined to think they never die.

If Kitchener was not a great man, he was, at least, a great poster.