For the whole world, without a native home, Is nothing but a prison of larger room.

And I myself a Catholic will be, So far at least, great saint, to pray to thee. Hail, Bard triumphant! and some care bestow On us, the Poets militant below.

Life is an incurable disease.

Of all ills that one endures, hope is a cheap and universal cure.

Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, But an eternal Now does always last.

A mighty pain to love it is, And 'tis a pain that pain to miss; But, of all pains, the greatest pain Is to love, but love in vain.

Solitude can be used well by very few people. They who do must have a knowledge of the world to see the foolishness of it, and enough virtue to despise all the vanity.

I would not fear nor wish my fate, but boldly say each night, to-morrow let my sun his beams display, or in clouds hide them; I have lived today.

Nothing so soon the drooping spirits can raise As praises from the men, whom all men praise.

As for being much known by sight, and pointed out, I cannot comprehend the honor that lies withal; whatsoever it be, every mountebank has it more than the best doctor.

Gold begets in brethren hate; Gold in families debate; Gold does friendship separate; Gold does civil wars create.

It’d been a long time since they’d been together, but as close as they were physically, they’d never been so far apart in every other way.

Every person is born for a reason, you really need to know yours.

What is good today may be a cliche tomorrow.

If we fail to solve this moral and spiritual crisis we may be doomed like the great nations of the past.

Let's not be too tough on our own ignorance. It's the thing that makes America great. If America weren't incomparably ignorant, how could we have tolerated the last eight years?

Look at each day as a chance to invest life into life. A chance to share your experience and deposit it into someone else's conscience. Each day is a chance to work miracles in the lives of others.

If nobody is afraid of me, I'm meaningless.

Maggie Shipstead's prose is so graceful and muscular, so dazzling, so sure-handed and fearless, that at times I had to remind myself to breathe. Astonish Me is a treasure of small surprises.

Your true meaning cannot be grasped or captured by words. You can never be equated with any words, because you are prior to words.

Even in the most perfect love one person loves less profoundly than the other.