“The expected always happens”

“What we anticipate seldom occurs: but what we least expect generally happens.”

“Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.”

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

“You asked me where I generally lived. In my workshop [i.e. in his study] in the mornings and always in the library in the evening. Books are companions even if you don’t open them.”

“It has been my lot to have found myself in many distant lands. I have never been in one without finding a Scotchman, and I never found a Scotchman who was not head of the poll.”

“An author who speaks about their own books is almost as bad as a mother who speaks about her own children.”