Suffering without understanding in this life is a heap worse than suffering when you have at least the grain of an idea what it's all for.

To lovers of the long and intricate history of language the disuse and final death of certain words is a matter of regret. Yet every age bears witness to the inevitableness of such loss.

Of all the excellent teachers of college English whom I have known I have never discovered one who knew precisely what he was doing. Therein have lain their power and their charm.

There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.

Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind.

It is quite possible to leave your home for a walk in the early morning air and return a different person - beguiled, enchanted.

Manual labor to my father was not only good and decent for it's own sake but, as he was given to saying, it straightened out one's thoughts.