“A human being in this aged nation of ours is a very wonderful whole, the slow creation of long interchanging influences; and charm is a result of two such wholes, the one loving and the one loved.”

“You must love your work, and not be always looking over the edge of it, wanting your play to begin. And the other is, you must not be ashamed of your work, and think it would be more honorable to y...”

“Fear was stronger than the calculation of probabilities.”

“But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me ...”

“I never had any preference for her, any more than I have a preference for breathing.”

“A woman dictates before marriage in order that she may have an appetite for submission afterwards.”

“I hug him tightly. I cant imagine my life without you, Christian. I love you so much it frightens me. Me, too, he breathes. My life would be empty without you. I love you so much.”

“Among my stillness was a pounding heart.”

“I take my hand back, like a leaf letting go. It hurts too much to hang on. So why does it hurt so much to let go?”

“The hobgoblin of a little mind may be the genius of a great one.”

“To force oneself to believe and to accept a thing without understanding is political, and not spiritual or intellectual.”

“It's difficult being an intellectual in a bread and butter sort of town.”