“Talk of the abuses of slavery! Humbug! The thing itself is the essence of all abuse!”

“Whipping and abuse are like laudanum: you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.”

“In all ranks of life the human heart yearns for the beautiful; and the beautiful things that God makes are His gift to all alike.”

“So subtle is the atmosphere of opinion that it will make itself felt without words.”

“...the heart has no tears to give,--it drops only blood, bleeding itself away in silence.”

“Of course, in a novel, people’s hearts break, and they die, and that is the end of it; and in a story this is very convenient. But in real life we do not die when all that makes life bright dies to us. There is a most busy and important round of eating, drinking, dressing, walking, visiting, buying, selling, talking, reading, and all that makes up what is commonly called living, yet to be gone through…”

“For, so inconsistent is human nature, especially in the ideal, that not to undertake a thing at all seems better than to undertake and come short.”