But self-satisfaction, if as buoyant as gas, has an ugly trick of collapsing when full blown, and facts are stony things that refuse to melt away in the sunshine of a smile.
The comfortable thing about the study of history is that it inclines us to think hopefully of our own times.
It is not the office of a novelist to show us how to behave ourselves; it is not the business of fiction to teach us anything.
it is not every tourist who bubbles over with mirth, and that unquenchable spirit of humor which turns a trial into a blessing.
There is no liberal education for the under-languaged.
Every true American likes to think in terms of thousands and millions. The word 'million' is probably the most pleasure-giving vocable in the language.
the most charming thing about youth is the tenacity of its impressions.
It has been well said that tea is suggestive of a thousand wants, from which spring the decencies and luxuries of civilization.
Like simplicity and candor, and other much-commented qualities, enthusiasm is charming until we meet it face to face, and cannot escape from its charm.
It is claimed that the United States gets the cleanest and purest tea in the market, and certainly it is too good to warrant the nervous apprehension which strains and dilutes it into nothingness. The English do not strain their tea in the fervid fashion we do. They like to see a few leaves dawdling about the cup. They like to know what they are drinking.
When the milk of human kindness turns sour, it is a singularly unpalatable draught.
We may fail of our happiness, strive we ever so bravely; but we are less likely to fail if we measure with judgement our chances and our capabilities.
If we go to church we are confronted with a system of begging so complicated and so resolute that all other demands sink into insignificance by its side.
It is bad enough to be bad, but to be bad in bad taste is unpardonable.
A man who listens because he has nothing to say can hardly be a source of inspiration. The only listening that counts is that of the talker who alternately absorbs and expresses ideas.
the labors of the true critic are more essential to the author, even, than to the reader.
The pessimist is seldom an agitating individual. His creed breeds indifference to others, and he does not trouble himself to thrust his views upon the unconvinced.
Need drives men to envy as fullness drives them to selfishness.
The gospel of cheerfulness, I had almost said the gospel of amusement, is preached by people who lack experience to people who lack vitality. There is a vague impression that the world would be a good world if it were only happy, that it would be happy if it were amused, and that it would be amused if plenty of artificial recreation - that recreation for which we are now told every community stands responsible - were provided for its entertainment.
Where there is no temptation, there is no virtue.
If everybody floated with the tide of talk, placidity would soon end in stagnation. It is the strong backward stroke which stirs the ripples, and gives animation and variety.
We cannot hope to scale great moral heights by ignoring petty obligations.
A vast deal of ingenuity is wasted every year in evoking the undesirable, in the careful construction of objects which burden life. Frankenstein was a large rather than an isolated example.
There is nothing in the world so incomprehensible as the joke we do not see.
The carefully fostered theory that schoolwork can be made easy and enjoyable breaks down as soon as anything, however trivial, has to be learned.
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