“What the world stigmatizes as romantic is often more nearly allied to the truth than is commonly supposed.”

“What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary, error is often more earnest than truth.”

“Children are often envied for their supposed imaginations, but the truth is that adults imagine things far more than children do. Most adults wander the world deliberately blind, living only inside their heads, in their fantasies, in their memories and worries, oblivious to the present, only aware of the past or future.”

“It is not true as is romantically presumed that people frightened or injured or persecuted are wakeful. More often than not they retire into sleep to be free of trouble for a time.”

“Ghosts are common to the life of any child:mine just happened to come to dinner more often than most”

“Friendship and domestic happiness are continually praised; yet how little is there of either in the world, because it requires more cultivation of mind to keep awake affection, even in our own hearts, than the common run of people suppose.”