Does it not appear to you versatility is the true and rare characteristic of that rare thing called genius-versatility and playfulness? In my mind they are both essential.

A novel should be as like life as a painting, but not as like life as a piece of waxwork.

Fashion is a capricious deity.

[On Elizabeth Barrett Browning:] Her sweetness of character is even beyond her genius.

That bad letters of every kind arise from want of the habit of thinking, I cannot doubt.

No fear of forgetting the good-humoured faces that meet us in our walks each day.

[On Elizabeth Barrett Browning:] ... for finish, and melody of versification, there is nothing approaching to Miss Barrett in this day, or in any other - also for diction. Her words paint.