"To you I am neither man nor woman. I come before you as an author only. It is the sole standard by which you have a right to judge me--the sole ground on which I accept your judgment."
"I don't call you handsome, sir, though I love you most dearly: far too dearly to flatter you. Don't flatter me."
"Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste."
"I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward."
"Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs."
"I write because I cannot NOT write."