“What other dungeon is so dark as one’s own heart! What jailer so inexorable as one’s self!”

Happiness is not found in things you possess, but in what you have the courage to release.

Mankind are earthen jugs with spirits in them.

Just as there comes a warm sunbeam into every cottage window, so comes a lovebeam of God’s care and pity for every separate need.

It contributes greatly towards a man’s moral and intellectual health, to be brought into habits of companionship with individuals unlike himself, who care little for his pursuits, and whose sphere and abilities he must go out of himself to appreciate.

The inward pleasure of imparting pleasure – that is the choicest of all.

To the untrue man, the whole universe is false- it is impalpable- it shrinks to nothing within his grasp. And he himself is in so far as he shows himself in a false light, becomes a shadow, or, indeed, ceases to exist.

Salt is white and pure – there is something holy in salt.

I want nothing to do with politicians. Their hearts wither away, and die out of their bodies. Their consciences are turned to india-rubber, or to some substance as black as that, and which will stretch as much.

If mankind were all intellect, they would be continually changing, so that one age would be entirely unlike another. The great conservative is the heart, which remains the same in all ages; so that commonplaces of a thousand years’ standing are as effective as ever.

Religion and art spring from the same root and are close kin. Economics and art are strangers.

There is an alchemy of quiet malice by which women can concoct a subtle poison from ordinary trifles.

Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.

Though we speak nonsense, God will pick out the meaning of it.

My fortune somewhat resembled that of a person who should entertain an idea of committing suicide, and, altogether beyond his hopes, meet with the good hap to be murdered.

What we need for our happiness is often close at hand, if we knew but how to seek for it.

The world owes all its onward impulses to men ill at ease. The happy man inevitably confines himself within ancient limits.

By night, Love, tie your heart to mine, and the two together in their sleep will defeat the darkness.

In order to know the light, we must first experience the darkness.

Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.

Tie your heart at night to mine, love, and both will defeat the darkness like twin drums beating in the forest against the heavy wall of wet leaves.

There isn’t enough darkness in all the world to snuff out the light of one little candle.

You can get around to meaningful conversations more quickly in the dark than with the sun tickling your face.

I love you as one loves certain dark things.

There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark.