Adam did not want the apple for the apple's sake; he wanted it because it was forbidden.

From his cradle to his grave a man never does a single thing which has any FIRST AND FOREMOST object but one -- to secure peace of mind, spiritual comfort, for HIMSELF.

She is not refined. She is not unrefined. She keeps a parrot

I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the "lower animals" (so called) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me.

I persuaded him to throw the dirk away; and it was as easy as persuading a child to give up some bright fresh new way of killing itself.

It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right

The southerner talks music.