The letters of famous people can be placed into two categories: there is the type of letter which becomes itself a valuable contribution to literature through its wit, style or wisdom; another kind is that whose main importance lies in the provision of a background to their author's life. Especially in the correspondence of great writers and poets, these two factors are very often combined.

Parents learn a lot from their children about coping with life.

There was altogether too much candor in married life; it was an indelicate modern idea, and frequently led to upsets in a household, if not divorce.

I often wonder if we were all characters in one of God's dreams.

It is well, when in difficulties, to say never a word, neither black nor white. Speech is silver but silence is golden.

I see no reason to keep silent about my enjoyment of the sound of my own voice as I work.

Nothing can be more puritanical in application than the virtues.