Edith Wharton

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that receives it."

"There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one's self, the very meaning of one's soul."

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."

"Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before."

"If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time."

"There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one's self, the very meaning of one's soul."

"To know when to be generous and when firm—that is wisdom."