“A loving heart is the truest wisdom.”

“There is a wisdom of the head, and... there is a wisdom of the heart.”

“Mr. Tracy Tupman—the too susceptible Tupman, who to the wisdom and experience of maturer years superadded the enthusiasm and ardour of a boy in the most interesting and pardonable of human weaknesses—love.”

“If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces-- love her, love her, love her!”

“[T]he wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile.”

“Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces – and as it gets older and stronger, it will tear deeper – love her, love her, love her!”

“You do not know what all around you see in Esther Summerson, how many hearts she touches and awakens, what sacred admiration and what love she wins. --Mr. Woodcourt”