“ 'Pity without rigor would be cowardly egotism, mere sentimentality.' ”
Books do pretend ...but squeezed in between is even more that is true—without what you may call the lies, the pages would be too light for the truth, you see?
~ Matthew Pearl
Longfellow smiled. A great part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, my dear Lowell, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.
Believe that when I am at once a man's friend I am always so-nor is it so very hard to bring me to it. And though a man may enjoy himself in being my enemy, he cannot make me HIS for longer than I wish. Good afternoon. Lowell had a way of leaving a conversation with the other person needing more from him.
It is not when a man is at the end of his life, but when a man is at the end of his profession, that his soul shows itself.
