Married and unmarried women waste a great deal of time in feeling sorry for each other.

Impermanence is the very essence of joy-the drop of bitterness that enables one to perceive the sweet.

Youth asks no greater privilege than to fight its own battles. It is mistaken kindness to shield - it weakens one in the years to come.

Womankind suffers from three delusions: marriage will reform a man, a rejected lover is heartbroken for life, and if the other women were only out of the way, he would come back.

When a little pleasure has flashed for a moment against the dark, I have made that jewel mine. I have hundreds of them ... I call it my Necklace of Perfect Joy. When the world goes wrong, I have only to close my eyes and remember all the links in my chain, set with gems, some large and some small, but all beautiful with the beauty which never fades. It is all I can take with me when I go. My material possessions must stay behind, but my Necklace of Perfect Joy will bring me happiness to the end, when I put it on, to be nevermore unclasped.

Anger is a better weapon than tears; a burr commands more respect than a sensitive plant.

It is possible for a spinster to be disappointed in lovers, but only the married are ever disappointed in love.