The flowering of civilization is the finished man, the man of sense, of grace, of accomplishment, of social power--the gentleman.

The household is a school of power. There, within the door, learn the tragi-comedy of human life.

If you would know what nobody knows, read what everybody reads, just one year afterwards.

There are moods in which we court suffering, in the hope that here, at least, we shall find reality, sharp peaks and edges of truth. But it turns out to be scene-painting and counterfeit. The only thing grief has taught me is to know how shallow it is.

Conservatism, ever more timorous and narrow, disgusts the children, and drives them for a mouthful of fresh air into radicalism.

A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud.

Manners aim to facilitate life, to get rid of impediments, and bring the man pure to energize. They aid our dealing and conversation, as a railway aids travelling, by getting rid of all avoidable obstructions of the road, and leaving nothing to be conquered but pure space.