An explorer cannot stay at home reading maps other men have made.

I mean that two of any thing is a most uncomfortable number. One may do as he pleases. Six may get along well enough. But two must always struggle for mastery. Two must always watch each other. The eyes of all the world will be on two, uncertain which of them to follow.

Drawing teaches habits of close observation that will always be useful.

The governess was not much liked in the village. She was too tall, too fond of books, too grave, and, a curious thing, never smiled unless there was something to smile at.

There is nothing in the world so easy to explain as failure - it is, after all, what everybody does all the time.

I was told once by some country people that a magician should never tell his dreams because the telling will make them come true. But I say that is great nonsense.

After two hours it stopped raining and in the same moment the spell broke, which Peroquet and the Admiral and Captain Jumeau knew by a curious twist of their senses, as if they had tasted a string quartet, or been, for a moment, deafened by the sight of colour blue.