Which, I wonder, brother reader, is the better lot, to die prosperous and famous, or poor and disappointed? To have, and to be forced to yield; or to sink out of life, having played and lost the game? That must be a strange feeling, when a day of our life comes and we say, 'To-morrow, success or failure won't matter much; and the sun will rise, and all the myriads of mankind go to their work or their pleasure as usual, but I shall be out of the turmoil.'

Remember, it's as easy to marry a rich woman as a poor woman.

If a man has committed wrong in life, I don't know any moralist more anxious to point his errors out to the world than his own relations.

Love makes fools of us all, big and little.

The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new.

There's a great power of imagination about these little creatures, and a creative fancy and belief that is very curious to watch . . . I am sure that horrid matter-of-fact child-rearers . . . do away with the child's most beautiful privilege. I am determined that Anny shall have a very extensive and instructive store of learning in Tom Thumbs, Jack-the-Giant-Killers, etc.

Oh, those women! They nurse and cuddle their presentiments, and make darlings of their ugliest thoughts.