Memories and Portraits Quotes

To believe in immortality is one thing, but it is first needful to believe in life.

The correction of silence is what kills; when you know you have transgressed, and your friend says nothing, and avoids your eye.

Restfulness is a quality for cattle; the virtues are all active, life is alert.

Marriage is one long conversation, chequered by disputes.

In short, the first duty of a man is to speak; that is his chief business in this world; and talk, which is the harmonious speech of two or more, is by far the most accessible of pleasures. It costs nothing in money; it is all profit; it completes our education, founds and fosters our friendships, and can be enjoyed at any age and in almost any state of health.

In every part and corner of our life, to lose oneself is to be gainer; to forget oneself is to be happy.

I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.

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.

Each has his own tree of ancestors, but at the top of all sits Probably Arboreal.