"Words, like glass, obscure when they do not aid vision."

"Grace is in garments, in movements, in manners; beauty in the nude, and in forms. This is true of bodies; but when we speak of feelings, beauty is in their spirituality, and grace in their moderation."

"It is easy to understand God as long as you don't try to explain him."

"Drawing is speaking to the eye talking is painting to the ear."

"All gardeners live in beautiful places because they make them so."

"Luckily I never feel at one time more than half my pains."

"Words like eyeglasses blur everything that they do not make clear."

"To teach is to learn twice."

"Children need models rather than critics."

"Who ever has no fixed opinions has no constant feelings."

"Love and fear. Everything the father of a family says must inspire one or the other."

"The spectacle has changed but our eyes remain the same."

"Only choose in marriage a man whom you would choose as a friend if he were a woman."

"Children have more need of models than of critics."

"The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress."

"The breath of the mind is attention."

"It is an aspect of all happiness to suppose that we deserve it."

"Ambition is pitiless. Any merit that it cannot use it finds despicable."

"Chance usually favors the prudent man."

"Whence? wither? why? how? - these questions cover all philosophy."