“True enough, the country is calm. Calm as a morgue or a grave, would you not say?”

“Calm in quietude is not real calm. When you can be calm in the midst of activity, this is the true state of nature. Happiness in comfort is not real happiness. When you can be happy in the midst of hardship, then you see the true potential of the mind.”

“.. a circle of inner radiance,as calm as it was bright.Teach me to live that I may dreadThe Grave as little as my bed.”

“Every calm and quiet place is the true temple of the wise man!”

“Calm?” I screeched. “Calm? Ryan, I nearly killed you! How could I possibly be calm?” Ryan studied my face for a minute and then rolled his eyes.His smile turned to a frown. “You’re not going to let me kiss you ever again, are you?” It wasn’t really a question.“And you say you’re not that smart.”

“Nature and Passion are powerful, but they are also full of grief. True happiness would have the calm and order of bourgeois routine without its utilitarian ignobility and boredom.”