A garden is like those pernicious machineries which catch a man's coat-skirt or his hand, and draw in his arm, his leg , and his whole body to irresistible destruction.

One man pins me to the wall, while with another I walk among the stars

The roses under my window make no reference to former roses or better ones; they are what they are; they exist with God today. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence.

If we must accept fate we are not less compelled to affirm liberty, the significance of the individual, the grandeur of duty, the power of character.

Sincerity is the highest complement you can pay

Spoons and skimmers you can be undistinguishably together; but vases and statues require each a pedestal for itself.

There is a blessed necessity by which the interest of men is always driving them to the right; and, again, making all crime mean and ugly.