To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent that is to triumph over old age.

What is lovely never dies, but passes into other loveliness, Star-dust, or sea-foam, flower or winged air.

But I, in the chilling twilight stand and wait At the portcullis, at thy castle gate, Longing to see the charmed door of dreams Turn on its noiseless hinges, delicate sleep!

Between the reputation of the author living and the reputation of the same author dead there is ever a wide discrepancy.

No bird has ever uttered note That was not in some first bird's throat; Since Eden's freshness and man's fall No rose has been original.

Books that have become classics - books that have had their day and now get more praise than perusal - always remind me of retired colonels and majors and captains who, having reached the age limit, find themselves retired on half pay.

The possession of gold has ruined fewer men than the lack of it.