“The winter was blasting its cold winds of dire portent into the tender face of springtime.”

“There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the less and a cleaner, better stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.”

“There are winter evenings in Massachusetts when there is no wind and the crust on the snow seems to hold in the cold. And if the moon is three-quarters full, its light adds a kind of warmth to the surrounding earth.”

“She could smell the sea in the air, but more than that, she could smell the scent of the grass as it awoke from its winter slumber. She could hear the sound of crickets as they sang to the emerging stars. It was springtime on the North Island. It was springtime for the world.”

“Grace is the permanent climate of divine kindness; the perennial infusion of springtime into the winter of bleakness.”

“The tender pressure of his lips soothed her, like a warm drink in the dead of the winter, when every part of her felt so cold.”