When I play with my cat, who knows whether she isn’t amusing herself with me more than I am with her?

There is scarcely any less bother in the running of a family than in that of an entire state. And domestic business is no less importunate for being less important.

If I am pressed to say why I loved him, I feel it can only be explained by replying: ‘Because it was he; because it was me.’

It should be noted that children at play are not playing about; their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity.

The value of life lies not in the length of days but in the use you make of them; he has lived for a long time who has little lived. Whether you have lived enough depends not on the number of your years but on your will.

One should always have one’s boots on, and be ready to leave.

I want death to find me planting my cabbages, but caring little for it, and even less about the imperfections of my garden.