“True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions
“The greatest sweetener of human life is friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.
“A happy marriage has in it all the pleasures of friendships, all the enjoyment of sense and reason - and indeed all the sweets of life.
“The important question is not what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount
“To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusement
“As the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys
“If it were admitted that the great object is to read and enjoy a language, and the stress of the teaching were placed on the few things absolutely essential to this result, all might in their own way arrive there, and rejoice in its flowers.
“The secret of joy in work is contained in one word: excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it
“There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice
“Give me books, fruit, French wine and fine weather and a little music out of doors, played by someone I do not know