“You may say suicide is a loss of control and cowardly. Foolish as it may sound, I am prepared to argue.”

“I lie awake for a long time, wondering which would be more foolish, to prepare for something that may never happen, or not to prepare for something that might.”

“My dear friend, clear your mind of cant [excessive thought]. You may talk as other people do: you may say to a man, "Sir, I am your most humble servant." You are not his most humble servant. You may say, "These are bad times; it is a melancholy thing to be reserved to such times." You don't mind the times ... You may talk in this manner; it is a mode of talking in Society; but don't think foolishly.”

“Or you may be such a thunderingly exalted creature as to be altogether deaf and blind to anything but heavenly sights and sounds. Then the earth for you is only a standing place- whether to be like this is your loss or your gain I won't pretend to say.”

“Sorrow and loss are meant to prepare us for the vision of God to purge the inward eye that it may see Him.”

“It may be argued that the past is a country from which we have all emigrated, that its loss is part of our common humanity.”