“In intimate family life, there comes a moment when children, willingly or no, become the judges of their parents.”

A man wastes his time going to hear some of our eloquent modern preachers; they may change his opinions, but never his conduct.

We love because we love.

No woman dares to refuse love without a motive, for nothing is more natural than to yield to love.

He who best knows the world will love it least.

The fact is that love is of two kinds, one which commands, and one which obeys. The two are quite distinct, and the passion to which the one gives rise is not the passion of the other.

Passion is universal humanity. Without it religion, history, romance and art would be useless.

Physically, a man is a man for a much longer time than a woman is a woman.

True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is equal and pure.

Woman is a most charming creature, who changes her heart as easily as she does her gloves.

Vice is perhaps a desire to learn everything.

True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is equal and pure, without violent demonstrations: it is seen with white hairs and is always young in the heart.

When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt.

Coffee falls into the stomach. Ideas begin to move, things remembered arrive at full gallop. the shafts of wit start up like sharp-shooters, similes arise, the paper is covered with ink.

The secret of great fortunes without apparent cause is a crime forgotten, for it was properly done.

The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom; to serve all, but love only one.

First love is a kind of vaccination which saves a man from catching the complaint the second time.

Intuition is like reading a word without having to spell it out. A child can’t do that because it has had so little experience. A grown-up person knows the word because they’ve seen it often before.

When you have kids you do grow up. I have just started realising it now-it changes the world, having children.

I didn’t want to be an actress; I never thought of being an actress because, as children, there were three of us – I was the middle child – and we spent our time in church from Sunday morning to Saturday night.

Remember who you are. Don’t compromise for anyone, for any reason. You are a child of the Almighty God. Live that truth.

Grief is a species of idleness.

My goal should never be to raise kids that make me look good. (Oh but how my flesh craves this!) My goal should be to raise kids who love God and spend their lives making His goodness known in their corner of the world.

My goal is not to shove information into your head. It’s to find ways to reignite the curiosity that we all had as children for the natural world. You don’t have to tell a child to explore the backyard.

To understand just one life you have to swallow the world do you wonder, then, that I was a heavy child?