Anyone who has the temerity to write about Jane Austen is aware of [two] facts: first, that of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness; second, that there are twenty-five elderly gentlemen living in the neighbourhood of London who resent any slight upon her genius as if it were an insult to the chastity of their aunts.

Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.

Publilius Syrus

[W]hen someone finds himself quite unjustly attacked and hated on all sides, there is no need for such a person to feel dismayed by misfortune. See how Fortune, who has harmed many a one, is so inconstant, for God, Who opposes all wrong deeds, raises up those in whom hope dwells.

Christine de Pizan

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.

Gustave Flaubert

Heartache is very fertile ground for song-making but so is happiness, so is absolute bliss.

K. D. Lang

Two may talk together under the same roof for many years, yet never really meet; and two others at first speech are old friends.

Mary Catherwood

Pain is as diverse as man. One suffers as one can.

Victor Hugo

Strength of character isn't always about how much you can handle before you break, it's also about how much you can handle after you've broken.

Robert Tew

The role of the artist I now understood as that of revealing through the world-surfaces the implicit forms of the soul, and the great agent to assist the artist was the myth.

Joseph Campbell

My acting teacher used to say that people reveal themselves in their opposites.

Kristin Bauer van Straten

A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it.

Harry S. Truman

Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games.

Babe Ruth

I think all of us as women have this super-human quality. We create life, we give life, we are the sources of life for our children - we're all pretty bionic.

Christina Aguilera