Thomas Bailey Aldrich Quotes

“A girl does not treat a possible lover with unvarying simplicity and directness. In all its phases, love is complex; friendship is not.”

“True art selects and paraphrases, but seldom gives a verbatim translation.”

“Dwellers by the sea are generally superstitious sailors always are. There is something in the illimitable expanse of sky and water that dilates the imagination.”

“I like to have a thing suggested rather than told in full. When every detail is given, the mind rests satisfied, and the imagination loses the desire to use its own wings.”

“A man may do worse than make what the world calls a not wholly happy marriage.”

“What is lovely never dies, But passes into other loveliness.”

“When Washington visited Portsmouth in 1789, he was not much impressed by the architecture of the little town that had stood by him so stoutly in the struggle for independence.”

“To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent - that is to triumph over old age.”

“Famous old houses seem to have an intuitive perception of the value of corner lots. If it is a possible thing, they always set themselves down on the most desirable spots.”

“The possession of gold has ruined fewer men than the lack of it.”