"Somewhere in the South Pacific lies a little white boat with a queer crew—an arch-fiend and his two imps, a man who was a man and a woman who placed her honor far—far higher than her life."

"If he still were in England and were the man whom this girl loved, she would probably seek him out — women have almost a genius for anticlimaxes."

"Fighting is like champagne. It goes to the heads of cowards as quickly as of heroes. Any fool can be brave on a battlefield when it's be brave or else be killed."

"Most American heroes of the Revolutionary period are by now two men, the actual man and the romantic image. Some are even three men—the actual man, the image, and the debunked remains."

"After that Johnny began to watch himself. For the first time he learned to think before he spoke."

"A man can stand up to anything with a good weapon in his hands. Without it, he's but a dumb beast."

"Human relations never seem to stand completely still. This apple, for instance. It might ripen into something better than it now was, or, unromantically, it might rot away in his pocket."

"I knew he could learn — if he didn't get killed first. It was sink or swim for him — and happens he's swimming."

"He had never in all his life slept in a bed alone — much less a whole room."

"Death and taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them!"

"We are not really senseless, and we are not angels, too, But very human beings, human just as much as you. It's hard upon occasions to be forceful and sublime When you're treated as incompetents three-quarters of the time."

"Can you, who have always been used to serenity and order in a family, to rational, refined, and improving conversation, relinquish them, and launch into the whirlpool of frivolity, where the correct taste and the delicate sensibility which you possess must constantly be wounded by the frothy and illiberal sallies of licentious wit?"

"The mind, after being confined at home for a while, sends the imagination abroad in quest of new treasures; and the body may as well accompany it."

"It is by surmounting difficulties, not by sinking under them, that we discover our fortitude. True courage consists not in flying from the storms of life; but in braving and steering through them with prudence. Avoid solitude. It is the bane of a disordered mind; though of great utility to a healthy one."

"You ask me, my friend, whether I am in pursuit of truth, or a lady? I answer, both. I hope and trust they are united; and really expect to find truth and the virtues and graces besides in a fair form."

"An unusual sensation possesses my breast — a sensation which I once thought could never pervade it on any occasion whatever. It is pleasure, pleasure, my dear Lucy, on leaving my paternal roof."

"He is a gay man, my dear, to say no more; and such are the companions we wish when we join a party avowedly formed for pleasure."

"People who deal in truth themselves recognize it when they hear it, just as people who deal in diamonds recognize a real stone when they see it."

"I am American bred, I have seen much to hate here—much to forgive, But in a world where England is finished and dead, I do not wish to live."

"People love to talk but hate to listen....Listening is not merely not talking, though even that is beyond most of our powers; it means taking a vigorous, human interest in what’s being told us....You can listen like a blank wall or like a splendid auditorium where every sound comes back fuller and richer."

"When men in Congress come to blows at something someone said, I always notice that it shows their blood is quick and red; But if two women disagree, with very little noise, It proves, and this seems strange to me, that women have no poise."

"If it’s very painful for you to criticize your friends—you're safe in doing it. But if you take the slightest pleasure in it—that’s the time to hold your tongue."

"Don't ever dare to take your college as a matter of course,— because like freedom and democracy, many people you'll never know anything about have broken their hearts to get it for you."

"Mother, what is a Feminist?" "A Feminist, my daughter, Is any woman now who cares To think about her own affairs As men don't think she oughter."

"There, little girl, don't read, You're fond of your books, I know, But Brother might mope If he had no hope Of getting ahead of you. It's dull for a boy who cannot lead. There, little girl, don't read."

"It's treating a woman politely As long as she isn't a fright: It's guarding the girls who act rightly, If you can be judge of what's right; It's being—not just, but so pleasant; It's tipping while wages are low; It's making a beautiful present, And failing to pay what you owe."

"Disappointments—like fate and love—will not bear to be too much talked about."

"Disillusions all come from within...from the failure of some dear and secret hope. The world makes no promises; we only dream it does; and when we wake, we cry!"

"All forced virtue is degrading in its effect."

"A quart of doubt to an ounce of truth is the safest brew."

"If the gods have no sense of humour they must weep a great deal."

"A man's way of loving is so different from a woman's," sighed Anna. "There ain't nothing," said Mrs. Grimmage, "there ain't nothing that makes them so sulky and turns them against you so soon as saying anything like that."

"Talking to you...is only thinking to myself—made easier."

"All is vanity,...discovering it—the greatest vanity."

"What is beautiful is right: what is unbeautiful is wrong."

"Men heap together the mistakes of their lives and create a monster which they call Destiny."

"... he fell a too ready victim to circumstances: he helped to build the altar for his own sacrifice."

"It is our imagination, not our conscience, which makes us better than the beasts of the field."

"... love comes to man through his senses—to woman through her imagination."

"... entertainment for entertainment's sake is the most expensive form of death ..."

"Faults! I adore faults! I can never find too many in any creature."

"Dearest, every man—even the most cynical—has one enthusiasm—he is earnest about some one thing; the all-round trifler does not exist. If there is a skeleton—there is also an idol in the cupboard!"

"Ah, it is silliness to pass a wolf because one is hunting foxes."

"Not all are blind that feel the scourge of love."

"An enemy's praise heralds all treachery, And grows the sweeter as revenge looks surer!"