Reputation is in itself only a farthing candle, of a wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit. – James Russell Lowell

If I had it to do again, I would less often judge myself and more often ask for a jury. – Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

Almost always it is the fear of being ourselves that brings us to the mirror. – Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

[T]he hours are even now never so full of gain as when I give them to the sky, the sea, the open wold. Why should we grudge Nature our heart? We might as well grudge it to the God who made the world. – Adeline Sergeant, The Story of a Penitent Soul: Being the Private Papers of Mr.