Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.

Wisdom has its excesses, and has no less need of moderation than folly.

Courtesy is a science of the highest importance. It is...opening a door that we may derive instruction from the example of others, and at the same time enabling us to benefit them by our example, if there be anything in our character worthy of imitation.

Everyone calls barbarity what he is not accustomed to.

There is no so wretched and coarse a soul wherein some particular faculty is not seen to shine.

For among other things he had been counseled to bring me to love knowledge and duty by my own choice, without forcing my will, and to educate my soul entirely through gentleness and freedom.

The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them... Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your tale of years, but on your will.