Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applause which he cannot keep. – Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, 1750

There is in a man an upwelling spring of life, energy, love, whatever you like to call it. If a course is not cut for it, it turns the ground round it into a swamp. – Mark Rutherford (William Hale White), More Pages from a Journal, 1910