“To know when to be generous and when firm—that is wisdom.”

“Why do we call all our generous ideas illusions, and the mean ones truths?”

“They are all alike you know. They hold their tongues for years and you think you're safe, but when the opportunity comes they remember everything.”

“Folly is as often justified of her children as wisdom.”

“Life is the only real counselor; wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissue. ”

“I want to put my hand out and touch you. I want to do for you and care for you. I want to be there when you're sick and when you're lonesome.”

“I believe I know the only cure, which is to make one’s center of life inside of one’s self, not selfishly or excludingly, but with a kind of unassailable serenity—to decorate one’s inner house so richly that one is content there, glad to welcome anyone who wants to come and stay, but happy all the same when one is inevitably alone.”