The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish.

Nobody speaks of a beautifful view for 5 minutes

But even if we take matrimony at its lowest, even if we regard it as no more than a sort of friendship recognized by the police, there must be degrees in the freedom and sympathy realized, and some principle to guide simple folk in their selection.

It is better to lose health like a spendthrift than to waste it like a miser.

By the time a man gets well into his seventies his continued existence is a mere miracle.

I never weary of great churches. It is my favorite kind of mountain scenery. Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral.

Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a poor substitute for life.