It is indeed in many ways more comfortable to belong to that section of society whose action are not publicly canvassed and discussed

Foolish indeed are those who trust to fortune.

Intimacy between stepchildren and stepparents is indeed proverbially difficult.

Stepmothers in books usually behave very spitefully towards the children entrusted to them. But he was now learning by his own experience that in real life this does not always happen.

Some ... have imagined that by arousing a baseless suspicion in the mind of the beloved we can revive a waning devotion. But this experiment is very dangerous. Those who recommend it are confident that so long as resentment is groundless one need only suffer it in silence and all will soon be well. I have observed however that this is by no means the case.

In few people is discretion stronger than the desire to tell a good story.

One ought not to be unkind to a woman merely on account of her plainness, any more than one had a right to take liberties with her merely because she was handsome