“Fiction is to the grown man what play is to the child; it is there that he changes the atmosphere and tenor of his life.”

Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone, but primarily by catchwords.

Vanity dies hard; in some obstinate cases it outlives the man.

He who sows hurry reaps indigestion.

If your morals make you dreary, depend on it, they are wrong.

Nothing made by brute force lasts.

Wine is bottled poetry.

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.

There is an idea abroad among moral people that they should make their neighbors good.

So long as we are loved by others I should say that we are almost indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend.

Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.

But to find your wife laughing when you had tears in your eyes, or staring when you were in a fit of laughter, would go some way towards a dissolution of the marriage.

Most of our pocket wisdom is conceived for the use of mediocre people, to discourage them from ambitious attempts, and generally console them in their mediocrity.

Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.

When I am grown to man’s estate I shall be very proud and great. And tell the other girls and boys Not to meddle with my toys.

To forget oneself is to be happy.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.