I know of no such unquestionable badge and ensign of a sovereign mind as that of tenacity of purpose.

The cruelest foe is a masked benefactor. The wars which make history so dreary have served the cause of truth and virtue.

True wit never made us laugh.

My book should smell of pines and resound with the hum of insects.

We call the beautiful the highest, because it appears to us the golden mean, escaping the dowdiness of the good and the heartlessness of the true.

Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can offer with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation, but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession.

The rule for hospitality and Irish "help," is, to have the same dinner every day throughout the year. At last, Mrs. O'Shaughnessylearns to cook it to a nicety, the host learns to carve it, and the guests are well served.